According to City Hall, Enel has committed to carrying out 282,271 tree prunings in 2025
The City of São Paulo stated this Tuesday, 16th, that the energy concessionaire Enel only fulfilled 11% of the capital’s annual tree pruning plan.
The company and municipal management have an agreement for the company to carry out preventive pruning of branches in contact with electrical wiring. The objective is to prevent wire breakage during extreme weather events.
According to the City Hall, Enel has committed to carrying out 282,271 tree prunings in 2025. But the Municipality states that only 31,945 (11%) were carried out as of this Monday, the 15th.
“The result is poor and proves the lack of commitment from the concessionaire and the terrible service provided to the population of São Paulo”, stated the Ricardo Nunes (MDB) management in a note released this Tuesday afternoon. The report questioned Enel about the data and the statement, but has not yet received a response.
In communications sent in recent days, the company highlighted that it has doubled the number of tree prunings in contact with the grid since it took over the energy distribution concession in Greater São Paulo, in 2018. The company also claims to have carried out more than 600,000 annually since 2024.
The City Hall, in turn, says it will have carried out 162,000 prunings and 13,000 tree removals in 2025. The release of the data by management comes after a blackout left 2.2 million properties in the metropolitan region in the dark due to record winds on Wednesday, the 10th.
This Tuesday, six days after the climatic event, São Paulo residents still complain about a lack of electricity. Enel, however, says that all cases caused by last week’s windstorm have already been resolved.
The new energy crisis – after similar episodes in 2023 and 2024 – brought Enel back into the spotlight, with requests for federal intervention by São Paulo authorities, such as Nunes. Governor Tarcísio de Freitas also called for a similar measure and said that São Paulo residents cannot “be held hostage” by Enel.
One of the concerns is the possibility of early renewal of the concession with the Italian company, whose contract is valid until 2028.
The concessionaire also points to record investment in modernizing the electrical network since taking over the concession in 2018. Between this year and 2027, the forecast was R$10.4 billion. The company also said it had intensified preventive maintenance
Enel has highlighted that winds last week reached almost 100 km/h, which resulted in hundreds of fallen trees. The company also says it has mobilized up to 1,800 teams for repairs.
This number is disputed by Nunes (MDB), who says he identified a much smaller number of company vehicles on the streets through the municipal camera system.
‘We are desperate’, says restaurant owner in Pinheiros who has been without electricity for days
Owner of a restaurant in a townhouse on Rua Francisco Leitão, in Pinheiros, in the west zone, Hugo Delgado reports that he is still without power this Tuesday. According to him, the establishment already has R$40,000 in losses due to losses from the blackout, and Enel has not yet announced a deadline for restoring the service. “We are desperate.”
The power in the place went out at 2pm on Wednesday, as well as in the rest of the neighborhood, and came back on at 11:30am on Thursday, the 11th. But the happiness was short-lived: half an hour later, a tree in front of the restaurant fell, knocking down the electrical wiring. “The rest of the street has power. Just us and the neighboring townhouse, with two semi-detached houses, we continue in the dark”, says Delgado.
The owner of the restaurant in Pinheiros estimates at least R$30,000 in losses from lost sales on closed days and R$3,000 from loss of products in refrigerators, in addition to extra expenses of R$7,000 on hiring a generator, which he used on Saturday, the 13th. “We are a small restaurant and these numbers are big for us”, he emphasizes. “It’s very scary, it completely broke our legs.”
In addition to the generator rented on Saturday, the busiest day, Delgado has tried to keep the restaurant open at lunchtime using natural light. He counts on the help of neighbors with energy, who offered their refrigerators so he could store products. The businessman also had to turn to neighbors to charge his cell phone and credit card machines.
“The situation is very complicated and we don’t know when it will return to normal”, he says, sighing. “It’s urgent. It’s been six days. We’ve tried to contact Enel through all channels, via the app, telephone support, telephone and even Instagram direct. And nothing.”
After the reporter questioned the dealership, the company sent teams to the address.
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