Power Struggle: Outages and Political Battles in Sao Paulo

Brazil's federal government has set a deadline for Enel to restore power to over 400,000 households in Sao Paulo. Amid a mayoral race, there's a blame game as candidates criticize each other over the crisis. The outage, caused by a storm, initially affected 2.1 million homes.

In a critical move, Brazil's federal government has mandated power distributor Enel to restore service to more than 400,000 households in Sao Paulo within a three-day deadline. Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira announced this at a press conference, underscoring the widespread frustration sparked by an outage that began Friday evening.

The disruption, originating from a brief but intense storm, coincides with the ongoing mayoral election, escalating tensions. As the crisis unfolds, candidate Guilherme Boulos holds incumbent Mayor Ricardo Nunes accountable for inadequate preventive measures. Simultaneously, Nunes, alongside others, insists on penalization from the national regulatory agency against Enel.

Enel, responsible for the power distribution contract obtained in 2018, faces scrutiny for its management. With wind gusts reaching 67 mph uprooting trees and downing lines, many citizens have taken to the streets, voicing their dissatisfaction with both the company's response and local government efforts. The federal government is initiating an audit of regulatory inspections to address these grievances.

(With inputs from agencies.)