Those who do not want to switch to the free market should do absolutely nothing, even if, presumably, they will continue to receive telemarketing calls that will try, even heavily, to convince them. Word of Rino Soragni president of Federconsumatori Reggio Emilia. Since yesterday we have entered the free market of electricity.
What advice do you have for those who are still skeptical about joining?
“To stand firm, to say a clear no to anyone who proposes the transition to a free market.”
But doesn’t greater competition bring economic benefits to citizens?
“Not because of how the free market is conceived in Italy. With at least 800 operators trying to gain the user’s consent, perhaps by offering insignificant gifts such as insurance, system maintenance or things like that which, in reality, have almost zero impact on the cost of the bill”.
Are you telling us that in our country hundreds of companies can supply electricity?
“No, that’s done by those 8-10 big companies that we all know and that cover 80% of the market. The remaining share is the prerogative of intermediary agencies that, through agreements with the companies, try to acquire small shares of users that, for them, still represent a profit. Hence the continuous and invasive phone calls”.
So who can still remain in the protected area?
“Absolutely yes, at least the time needed to evaluate how the new system of gradual protections works. Because the truly protected will remain only for vulnerable categories: elderly people over 75, disabled people and those in economic difficulty. A limbo that will last until 2027 and where the companies that won the contract, for Reggio Emilia Enel, operate by partly tracing the scheme of the old protected market. In some cases with even better conditions”.
In Reggio Emilia, how many people have chosen the free market in recent years?
“About 70% of users, the remaining 30% remained in the protected area, one of the highest percentages in Italy”.
Have those who have chosen the free market so far been penalized?
“I can’t say that. But if even the relevant authority, Arera, suggests staying in a protected area, it says a lot about the fact that we are not in a situation of real competition that benefits the citizen. Things that happen when you don’t produce your own electricity.”
Isn’t all this confusing?
“Of course, we are in a jungle where the only thing that matters is making a profit. Hence the tele-selling, or the attempt to procure contracts by telephone, which we had asked to suspend in recent months. And which will certainly not cease today. But many of these agencies are not financially sound and many have gone bankrupt in recent years. This is a wild liberalization, we will see in 2027, when even the market with gradual protections will cease to exist, what will happen. The Government also made a mistake in managing this transition”.
In what sense?
“He had promised a broad information campaign to explain this transition phase well, and instead he did nothing.”
For those who decide to consider switching to the free market in the future, what should they pay attention to?
“At the costs indicated in the contract: of the raw material and the marketing costs, in addition to the value of the spread and the duration of the contract itself. Without worrying too much about supposedly miraculous additional offers that are often just decoys”.
