At the age of 97, she received a bill for over 6 thousand euros but, after submitting the complaint, the lady received a refund.
Como is one of the very few cases followed by consumer associations to have overcome a trap relating to high bills. The Lady Lina Moretti he is one of the hundreds of citizens who have received the invoice for the winter quarter with an increase in tariffs that has increased fivefold compared to last summer.
The reconstruction of the story
«My mother had the tariff change last April, but in the hot season when we checked the bills we didn’t notice the increase – says her daughter, Gemma -. So after February the last payments really surprised us, they asked us for around 6 thousand euros. A complicated sum to pay with a low pension. Furthermore, my mother receives the social bonus precisely to counteract high energy costs. So I contacted the Enel Energia branches, but they only offered me an instalment.” Such a debt has created a personal situation of real suffering. “Such a high bill, at 97 years of age, with a small pension and unfortunately precarious health conditions – says Mrs Moretti’s daughter – can really undermine the stability of an elderly person”.
At this point in the case Federconsumatori became interested. «As with the other positions we follow, we contested the unreasonable increase in prices against Enel Energia – explains the secretary Mara Blackbird – as well as the failure of our clients to receive prior communication of this increase and therefore not being able to exercise the withdrawal or choose a different supplier. In the case in question we have invoked the advanced age of our associate, she is even 97 years old, as well as her very precarious economic condition as she receives a very modest pension which allows her with difficulty to meet primary expenses certainly not to support such abnormal figures.”
Skyrocketing expenses
But there are many cases followed by Federconsumatori who do not receive a positive response. Dozens of requests arrive from Como. «Aside from the satisfaction with the outcome of this complaint – Merlo continues – also in consideration of the fragility of the position and while recognizing the availability of Enel Energia, we fear that this remains an isolated case, the outcome of which has more to do with the user’s profile, therefore the age and economic condition, but not with the opening of spaces for negotiation on an issue on which the opinion of Federconsumatori continues to be strongly negative and critical. The absurdity is all in the norm, as defined by Arera, which does not require the manager to provide a traceable communication recommended to inform about unilateral increases in gas tariffs such as to produce bills worth thousands of euros, quadrupled if not quintupled and therefore unsustainable for the large part of the citizens.”
