Hundreds of cases already being examined by our offices. The AGCM opens an investigation against Enel Energia
Unilateral exchange letters of the offer passed off as if they were mere advertising, sent without respecting the law which obliges a precautionary period of at least three months, skyrocketing rates per cubic meter and gas bills which in recent weeks have devastated many Italian families and tarantine.
This is the analysis carried out by Federconsumatori Taranto through its president Antonello Zicari, and the lawyer Giovanni Cianci, head of the legal and litigation sector of the CGIL consumer association.
We are talking about gas bills of 800, 900, and sometimes even over 1000 euros arriving in the homes of employees, workers, pensioners, who today find themselves faced with the choice of paying the bill or doing the shopping.
According to Federconsumatori, which is currently collecting the complaints of hundreds of citizens, the catch all dates back to July 2023, when a letter arrived at the homes of many users by ordinary mail in which, as if it were a simple advertisement by Enel Energia, the tariff change was also incidentally reported in the text.
But in July we know that gas consumption is decidedly lower and many citizens have not even noticed the change. The bitter surprise arrived with the bill for December, February and March, when the three months of guarantee provided by the Competition and Market Authority and by Arera (Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks and the Environment)
For the lawyer Cianci we are faced with a clear case of harassment that contradicts a series of rules.
From the numerous cases already brought to our attention, we take note of proposals to modify the contract conditions, essentially affecting the price of gas, advanced in the period from August 2022 to June 2023, in full force of the ban initially foreseen by the decree aid bis – states the lawyer Cianci – Prohibition later re-proposed in the “Thousand Extensions”.
Even the information provided to users has its flaws.
In that information there is a lack of the necessary heading and other elements required by sector legislation and there is – he adds – a failure to comply with the notice period in favor of the user. This is a matter already subjected to scrutiny by Agcom which, with a provision dated October 2023, recognized in it the details of an unfair commercial practice due to violation of the articles. 24 and 25 of the consumer code, imposing a heavy fine on the company.
In short, according to Federconsumatori, the communication should not have taken place in those terms, in that period (remember the envisaged prohibitions – ed.) and the guarantee times would not have been respected to ensure that citizen-users, adequately informed, could withdraw from the contract.
In these days, we are sending hundreds of letters to Enel Energia and the replies are embarrassing as well as contemptuous – explains the president of Federconsumatori Taranto, Antonello Zicari – in defiance of every guarantee put in place by the State towards consumers, the company reacts with a ‘shrug. We promise to fight, also by virtue of the investigation opened against Enel Energia by the Competition and Market Authority (AGCM), and we invite all citizens to contact us to see their rights protected.
The Federconsumatori in Taranto is in via Val d’Aosta, 8.
Reception hours by reservation, by calling 3479153613, are Monday, Thursday and Friday from 5.30pm to 7.00pm. Information can also be requested via email at [email protected]
