ENERGY: ANTITRUST AUTHORITY OPENS INVESTIGATION INTO FOUR COMPANIES OF ENEL GROUP OVER IMPROPER COMMERCIAL PRACTICES
PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
ENERGY: ANTITRUST AUTHORITY OPENS INVESTIGATION INTO FOUR COMPANIES OF THE ENEL GROUP OVER IMPROPER COMMERCIAL PRACTICES. SUSPENSION OF ENEL ENERGIA'S BILLING OF CUSTOMERS WHO HAVE LODGED COMPLAINTS
Move follows tens of complaints from consumers who were moved without their consent to the supplier within the group that operates on the open electricity and gas markets. Measures taken to prevent further harm to consumers.
The Italian Competition Authority has begun a proceeding for improper commercial practices against four companies of the Enel Group (Enel S.p.A., Enel Energia, Enel Distribuzione and Enel Servizio Elettrico). The decision was taken following the receipt of numerous complaints from consumers between the end of 2007 and the early months of this year. The complainants claimed that Enel Energia, which operates on the open market, had begun activating electricity or gas supply contracts which had never been requested. Other consumers also complained of the possibly misleading nature of a number of advertisements because they created confusion as to the company providing supplies: the user was induced to change to Enel Energia without it being clearly spelled out that that company's pricing is unregulated and is subject to market fluctuations, unlike the group company (originally Enel Distribuzione, then from 1 January 2008 Enel Servizio Elettrico) that operates under the so-called ”Maggior tutela” (“Advanced Protection”) system and applies prices established by the relevant industry Authority.
Checks carried out by the Antitrust Authority demonstrated that Enel Energia was aware of the complaints from consumers who in some cases had even declared that they had never signed a supply contract; in other cases, they had exercised their right to change their mind or to cancel the contract in a timely fashion, stating that they had requested supply based on incomplete information furnished by the call-center or agents or based on misleading advertising. Despite that, they continued receiving bills from Enel Energia. The standard information for users, supplied by Enel to the call-center companies, also turned out to be ambiguous and incomplete and, above all, did not make clear that a change to Enel Energia meant moving to the open market.
So as to avoid the imposition of precautionary measures by the Antitrust Authority, Enel has suspended billing and debt recovery in the case of customers who have lodged complaints. For them, the “advanced protection” service will be reactivated from 1 May. Their back-payments will be the lesser of the open market price and the amount they would have paid under the “advanced protection” system. Similar solutions have been adopted for cases relating to the supply of natural gas.
As of 22 March the residential telephone sales channel has been provisionally suspended in order to allow for a reworking of the standard information to be supplied by the operators, with particular reference to Enel Energia's identity as a company operating in the open market.
Given the steps taken by Enel, the Authority decided not to impose precautionary measures since there is no particularly urgent requirement for them. The proceeding is continuing, however, in order to ascertain whether the consumer protection rules have been breached.
Rome, 31 March 2008