Celesc sued for US$3.5mn in damages from blackout

Brazil's Santa Catarina state public attorney's office is suing power distributor Celesc for 10mn reais (US$3.5mn) in damages to Florianópolis island inhabitants because of a 53-hour blackout there in 2003, local press reported. Public attorneys further want Celesc to publicly detail an emergency plan and are also suing national electricity regulator Aneel for failing to supervise and force the company to invest in transmission improvements before the October 2003 blackout, a spokesperson to the public attorney's office told BNamericas. The Santa Catarina public attorney's office wants the 7.9mn-real fine that Aneel charged Celesc to be invested in power supply improvement in the state, including the 129,000 billed clients on Florianópolis island who suffered economic losses, in the case of large consumers (businesses), or electric appliances damaged in households. "Aneel knew about Celesc's maintenance problems beforehand and didn't do anything," the public attorneys' spokesperson said. "This money has to reverted to benefit the whole population of Florianópolis." Celesc will hold a press conference Monday to announce new measures and a balance of what has been done in the past year. The company has paid as much as 700,000 reais in material damages to consumers through credits on clients' bills, newspaper Valor Economico reported. "We know about this and will appeal whatever decision comes out," a Celesc spokesperson told BNamericas. The public attorneys want compensation pay to extended to poorer customers and not only large customers, the public attorneys' spokesperson said. Aneel fined Celesc in February after considering that repair and emergency procedures were faulty when a fire broke out during the maintenance of the single 138kV high-voltage connection between the mainland and Florianópolis island where state capital Florianópolis city is located. Celesc has announced that it would strengthen the island's connection with a 138kV substation and extra lines crossing from the mainland to the island.