Brazil sets three-day deadline to restore power outage in Sao Paulo

Brazil's federal government on Monday established a three-day deadline for power distributor Enel to restore service to more than 400,000 households in Sao Paulo's metropolitan area who remain in the dark, energy minister Alexandre Silveira said in a news conference.

The outage started Friday evening due to a short but powerful storm, and with the city's mayoral race in full swing, it sparked a blame game.

Candidate Guilherme Boulos and allies are accusing incumbent Mayor Ricardo Nunes of failing to take preventive action, while others, including Nunes, are calling for the country's regulating agency to punish Enel. The federal government, meanwhile, is launching an audit of the power regulator's inspections of the utility.

Silveira told reporters that he is in favor of terminating Enel's contract, due in 2028, but that would depend on due process. He added that the company "would not be so neglectful" if it faced the risk that its concession would be terminated.

No matter what the