Gas bills skyrocket despite supplier reassurances: Federconsumatori and Adiconsum contest the work of Est Energy

Once the fixed-price contracts expired, users were guaranteed low prices. “The company refused to negotiate”

UDINE. The fixed price gas contract expires: customers automatically switch to the indexed price, but despite the assurances of the company, the price rises. And they are heavy.

The complaint comes from Federconsumatori Fvg Aps and Adiconsum Fvg, which have collected dozens of protests among the citizens of Udine. In the face of numerous complaints, the two consumer defense associations met, in recent days, the representatives of the supply company Est Energy, which is part of the Hera group, in order to find a solution “for a problem originating from a erroneous communication by the company to a substantial part of its customers “.

The meeting, however, ended with a stalemate. Federconsumatori and Adiconsum threaten legal action and a report to the Antitrust. “In the communications sent in September and October – explains Erica Cuccu, president of Federconsumatori Udine – the company communicated to users who no longer benefited from the fixed price guarantee for energy that they would continue to benefit from it, however, congratulating them on the choice and inviting them not to change the tariff plan. People trusted it, as it was a letterhead and had been posted on the customer area portal. Instead, these people have suffered heavy increases, from 0.30 to 1.31 per cubic meter of gas, because in reality they were no longer using the fixed rate and had no possibility to change their offer. Even today – continues Cuccu – nothing has been said to these people. Only to those who complained did they explain that there was an error, without inviting him to subscribe to a different offer. This erroneous communication, at a time when the signs of a strong rise in energy prices were already present, led users not to change the choice of supplier, avoiding looking for a different one that could offer better protection from the expected increases ” .

Faced with the dozens of users “who poured into our counters – explains the president of Federconsumatori – we met with Est Energy, asking for a general solution. The company first asked for time to implement the internal management checks, then charged the failure to alleged “errors” in the IT system. Finally, he denied the willingness to examine only single cases presented by consumer associations “.

The meeting was also attended by the National Consumers Union, the Movement for the Defense of Citizens and the National Association for the Defense and Guidance of Consumers. «Est Energy – adds Cuccu – has refused to negotiate a general solution with consumer associations, without indicating the reasons. Federconsumatori and Adiconsum will therefore start all the protection initiatives, starting from the reports to the Authorities for the protection of the fairness of the market and we will also verify the possibilities of protection of a compensatory nature for the users concerned “.

The regional president of Adiconsum, Giuseppe De Martino, concludes: «I was surprised by the attitude of the company, given the relationships we have had in recent years. I would not have expected such an answer ».

Contact, the Hera group explains that “at the moment it prefers not to intervene”.