2023-08-24 17:31:00
Thousands of customers have been castigating for several weeks the astronomical sums demanded by their Italian electricity supplier ENI after regularizing their bill. However, they had all taken out “market rate” contracts in recent years to save money. Some have agreed to testify for Midi Libre.
“We walk on the head”. Some fell out of their chairs when they saw the amount of their electricity bill. Others believed in a joke, like Delphine. This resident of Val d’Oise received in July 2023 a regularization of an amount of 4 700 euros.
“My partner refuses to pay such a sum. I had subscribed in 2019 to a contract cunning 3 which was supposed to “protect me and control my budget”. This was the motto of ENI, which undertook to offer me a suitable and competitive offer at the end of the contract… I received nothing of the sort”, she laments.
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“My consumption has dropped but my bill is increasing!” : the rant of individuals facing the price of electricity
“Holy crooks”
Same story for Lionel, a resident of Montceau-Les-Mines, in Saône-et-Loire. “For two years, our bills have been very correct. What was our surprise this year when we received our first bi-monthly bill… We went from 80 euros to 400 euros for electricity”.
And to continue:In two months, we had to pay what we usually pay over a year. At first I thought it was a mistake. I contacted ENI, who explained to me that it was Blame it on the war in Ukraine. They are bloody crooks…”
Beyond we are huge and unforeseen events requested, what obviously poses a problem is the lack of transparency and communication of the energy supplier, as explained by Laurence, who lives in Ortaffa, near Perpignan.
She points to “the incredible dishonesty” and “theabominable perversion from ENI”. “Not understanding my bill, I spent almostabout twenty unsuccessful calls, before succeeding in having someone. The person got angry at the end of the line, raised his voice, before hanging up on me and leaving me disillusioned“.
If this resident of the Pyrénées-Orientales has changed supplier, she says she is a victim “harassment” from ENI, which claims more than 2000 euro. “However, I had spent all my winter heating myself with wood and I live alone with my daughter every other week”, she testifies, in incomprehension.
“I don’t know how we’re going to live”
A misunderstanding shared by Nathalie, who lives in the Paris region. With her family, she struggles to make ends meet. “Their prices have increased without me being informed. I don’t understand, it’s been a year since my washing machine and my coffee maker are broken, so I thought I would save money … But no, I received a regularization of 708 euros”, she explains, before launching a real call for help: “My spouse receives the AAH, me I barely have 35 euros a month with a child with two chronic illnesses. I put my health aside for try to survive“.
A disastrous situation from which *Brice, a 28-year-old Gardois, narrowly escaped. ENI customer since 2020, the young man paid by real and fortnightly consumption, with fixed tariffs. “My apartment is difficult to heat in winter, but being present at home part-time, I got by for 40 to 60 euros”. Until he receives an invoice from 575 euros last February. “I was lucky not to have regularization, so I noticed it directly”, recognizes the one who recently moved to EDF, with which he says he is satisfied.
In a Facebook group called “Victims of Eni and their shenanigans”who counts more than 4,000 members, customers have denounced the supplier’s practices. Same thing on Twitter.
A member of the Facebook group shared his invoice dated July 20, 2023. FACEBOOK SCREEN CAPTURE – Victims of Eni and their shenanigans
At ENI my bill went from 85 euros to 394€ per month? While my electricity consumption has not moved. It’s not a price increase, it’s theft
— nana (@n__aaj) October 24, 2022
I wake up I see the email of my electricity regulation bill.. 850€ how to tell you
— F.SK ?? (@_FouleyKonate) August 10, 2023
ENI’s mea culpa
This Wednesday, August 23, the Italian electricity supplier admitted errors. According to the cabinet of Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister for Energy Transition, “ENI’s managers have recognized sending of erroneous invoice schedules to some of their customers who renewed their contracts in the second half of 2022, because they did not fully resume government protection measures”, learned France Inter.
“Corrective measures” so that customers “are well billed the price of the energy shield for the year 2023” have been promised. Approximately 100,000 customers are concerned.
Advice from UFC-Que Choisir
Claude Gaubert, co-responsible for communication within the UFC Que Choisir Montpellier, gives a series of tips:
Check your contract carefully : if it is at the regulated rate, what is the indexation method, etc.? It is important to take a look at it from time to time and take stock.
Compare your contract with the current state of the offer and the market : for that, use a comparator like the one set up by the consumer defense association. In two or three clicks, you will have all the offers available. “Changing contracts is very simple,” reassures the Montpellier player.
Avoid the monthly payment : according to the expert, this is a “trap”. If this option makes it possible to smooth these expenses, it can also be dangerous if the monthly payment has not been made taking into account the regulated tariffs. Annual regularization can be severe.
Do not jump on a “peak hours / off-peak hours” contract : the latter is interesting only if 50% of your consumption is done during off-peak hours, warns Claude Gaubert.
If you notice a problem with your energy bill, you can write to [email protected]. *Name has been changed
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