The Antitrust fined five big names in the Italian energy market for a total of 14 million and 530 thousand euros. Eni e That they received the heaviest fines (3,6 million). In third place there is Enel Energia (2,985 million), followed by Enel Electric Service (2,620 million) ed Edison (1,725 million). In truth, the most fined is Enel (5,605 million) by adding up the penalties charged to the two companies (one for the free market, the other for the enhanced protection market but both directly controlled by the group which is also the leading operator in Italy) .
The measures - arrived at the conclusion of four separate investigations - concern "billing mechanisms and repeated payment requests for bills that do not correspond to actual consumption, as well as the obstacles to the return of refunds”, writes the Authority.
During the proceeding, the Aeegsi (Electricity, Gas and Water System Authority) issued an opinion which allowed the Antitrust to identify and ascertain "distinct aggressive practices". The Guardia di Finanza also collaborated in the inspections.
HEAVY INCASE
The Antitrust disputes heavy findings against the 4 companies under investigation for invoices relating to the period between March 2014 and April 2016. At the end of its investigation, the Agcm ascertained that the five companies have "put in place a first aggressive commercial practice - continues the note – and that is inadequate management of requests and communications from end customers who complained about the billing of electricity or natural gas consumption differing from the actual ones".
The Authority believes that the practice was "due to deficiencies in the billing process, malfunctioning of the IT systems and the non-suspension of collection activities (reminder, formal notice and secondment, sometimes without notice) pending a clear response punctual and comprehensive. Furthermore, in the case of high-value adjustments, the companies had not taken measures to mitigate the impact of the bill, without adequately informing users about the possibility of paying in installments or about longer payment terms".
According to the Antitrust, these behaviors have violated the customer's right to receive adequate assistance and verification of their consumption, before proceeding with the payment of the disputed invoices and, therefore, "constitute aggressive commercial practices".
A second incorrect practice ascertained by the preliminary investigation regards the failed or delayed return of amounts due for various reasons to end customers. In fact, the Authority considered that "the information and procedural methods adopted by the five operators did not allow consumers to fully and promptly receive the amount paid in excess for the supply of electricity or gas", writes the Antitrust.
LATE BILLS AND DEFAULT INTEREST
For the two companies of the Enel groupfinally, a third unfair practice was ascertained, which consisted incharge of default interest for late payment, even in the case of bills delivered late or not delivered and if there is a complaint.
In the course of the proceedings, the operators have proposed changes to the procedures used so far in the management of requests and complaints from consumers and also to improve billing processes. In the light of these proposals, the sanctions have been reduced in proportion to the degree of relevance and effective implementation of these innovations.
Enel Servizio Elettrico and Enel Energia "they dispute the conclusions" of the Antitrust in the investigation of the big energy companies. This was affirmed by the companies of the group led by Francesco Starace, "believing their conduct in matters of invoicing and credit collection procedures fully adheres to the highest standards of professional diligence and fully compliant with sector legislation". "Furthermore - underlines Enel - the disputed practices refer to an extremely limited number of cases, if compared with the number of customers served by the companies, around 30 million, and with the number of invoices issued in the reference period, around 250 million" .
