While in the other large Brazilian city where it is present, San Paolo, Enel is having some problems due to difficulties in adapting the service and continuous disputes with local administrations (the Municipality for example does not want to bear the costs of burying the cables while the state government would like not to renew the contract accusing the Italian company of not making the necessary investments), in Rio de Janeiro the Italian electricity group led by Flavio Cattaneo has even obtained the early renewal of the concession throughout the state. The decision was recommended to the Ministry of Energy by Brazil's National Electricity Agency (Aneel), acknowledging that Enel had met all the criteria established by the federal government for the extension of its license. for another 30 yearsThe current concession would have expired on December 9, 2026. The final decision now rests with the ministry, but after Aneel's approval, it appears to be a formality.
In Rio itself, among other things, the Italian group, which at Brazilian level is led by Antonio Scala (but the president of Enel Rio is Francesco Moliterni, formerly of Leonardo), has changed gear a few months ago, announcing new investments to improve the service, increase staff and reduce inconveniences and blackouts, which unfortunately in Brazilian cities in recent years have been increasingly frequent due to extreme weather phenomena, especially in 2024. In recent days, Enel Rio has announced that it has invested 655 million reais in the first half of the year alone this year, a figure that corresponds to over 100 million euros, and it did so also and above all to strengthen the staff by hiring 449 new employees internally, to avoid having to rely on third-party operators during emergency interventions. The lack of personnel to cope with the damage caused by the weather and quickly restore service is one of the most sensitive issues in Brazil: but in Rio, Enel was ready.
In fact, most of the resources were allocated to preventive maintenance, to the expansion of new connections and to the modernization of the electrical infrastructure in the 66 municipalities of the State of Rio de Janeiro served by the Italian group, which represent approximately 75% of the state's territory. And the results are visible: the DEC (average outage duration per customer) dropped by 20,2%, from 9,83 hours to 7,84 hours in the 12 months ending in June 2025, below the ANEEL regulatory limit of 8,85 hours. To combat energy losses, Enel Rio has intensified inspections, system repairs, and the regularization of illegal connections. As a result, 2025 GWh were recovered in the second quarter of 72. Despite rising energy costs, the company's net revenues grew by 12% in the first half of the year, reaching 4,57 billion reais. EBITDA for the period was 812,9 million reais, an increase of 1,9%.
