(Finance) – It may happen that the next one electricity and gas bill it does not come from the operator chosen for the energy supply. The reason could be very simple: the energy provider may no longer have been able to meet the commitments due to the instability on the energy markets and for this reason may have decided to “abandon” the user. No interruption of utilitiesof course: the consumer ends in Last resort service in case of gas supply, or under the Greater protection in the case of electricity, even if it had chosen to switch to the Free Market.
This “trick” was formalized by Aid Decree Bis to cope with a practice that has not been widespread in recent years in the energy market but increasingly present after the surge in prices: the unilateral modification of the contract. With the provision now awaiting its conversion into law, in fact, the Government has imposed the Suspensionuntil 30 April 2023, of the faculty for electricity and gas supply companies of modify unilaterally the contractual conditions on the price, with retroactive validity to communications already sent in recent weeks but not yet entered into force.
“The measure has given consumers a shot in the arm to try to avoid, as far as possible, undergoing contractual changes that are worse than the rates applied in previous years – he explained. Gianluca Di Ascenzopresident of Codacons -. Many operators have adapted to the norm. However, the measure expires next spring: we hope that the emergency will return by next April but the fear is that unfortunately it will not be so “.
Critics of the standard observed that while with the unilateral modification of the contract they enjoyed 60 days of notice for the application of the new tariff conditions (and, therefore, still 60 days of supply at the old prices), with the termination of the contract they did not there is no notice and, at the end of the calendar month of the communication, the customer is transferred to the companies that provide the service of last resort. No guarantee of savings with the transition to protected market but the customer is assured the right to be able to freely choose a new offer on the market: a “solution swab“to respond to the numerous reports received by the consumer association before the introduction of the standard.
“In general the rates of the protected regime are more expensive than those found on the free market. To check it just go to the Offers Portal of the Authority where you can still choose a new offer. A situation preferable to the one in which a company decides by authority to increase my tariff on which I cannot act “, Di Ascenzo underlined.
Specifically, the service of last resort is a contractual regime designed by the Authority to bring together the customers of companies that may be in bankruptcy or, in any case, unable to continue the supply to the end customer. As for the conditions tariff, for the first 6 months of stay in this regime, are the same as those of the Maggior Tutela service. After this period – to discourage customers from remaining in this regime and to encourage them to sign a new contract with a supplier of the free market – a surcharge is applied to the protection conditions.
To find themselves in this situation could be those users who have an electricity or gas contract expiring between August and December, perhaps a price fixedblocked last year (therefore at much lower figures than current prices).