Bills, the joke for those who pay little: what are they risking now

The companies that supply electricity and gas are changing the contractual conditions of millions of Italians, adapting them to the dear energy with increases in bills that can even jump to + 117% compared to the last three months of 2021. According to the analysis of the president of Assoutenti, Fabio Truzzi, a family could pay out 2,942 euros a year just for the gas. Those who cannot afford to pay this monstrous amount will see their contracts rescinded by suppliers who would breach the fixed price agreement stipulated in 2020 and 2021.

“Unsustainable expenses”

“The increases in gas prices would thus add up to those of electricity, whose tariffs rose in the last quarter by 122% on an annual basis, making energy expenditure increasingly unsustainable “ , he added to Ansa. The request is that the new government adopt immediately “three measures which appear more urgent than ever to save the budgets of millions of families“. The first request is that the prices of phase and light be split through the” misalignment “; then the detachments must be blocked”of energy supplies throughout 2023“and must be aligned” lat the end of the protected gas market, scheduled for January 2023, to the electricity market, scheduled for January 2024“.

What happens with the contracts

As mentioned, however, the most delicate issue undoubtedly concerns contracts which, according to consumers, do not only concern those that will have a deadline natural in the coming weeks but also those regularly in progress who would like to circumvent the provisions of the Aid Decree bis which blocks any type of revision until April 30, 2023. “We also explain we receive reports from users for the termination of the contract before the expiration “, stated a The day Marco Vignola, Unc’s energy manager who welcomed the alarm cry of Federconsumatori, Altroconsumo and Codacons. It is mainly the elderly who pay the price and those who have fewer tools to defend themselves. “The energy poverty of the elderly, with almost a third with pensions of less than a thousand euros, already existed before the explosion in the cost of bills – declared Domenico Pantaleo, president of Auser – “And the elderly are also fragile victims of the bombardment of commercial offers, sometimes fraudulent “.

Here’s how to defend yourself

If a supplier communicates the revision of a contract, the violation must be immediately contested “to the company according to the Aid Decree bis, because the revision“, Vignola suggests. The situation is different if there is two or three months notice as is happening in many cases for fixed price rates but which have now become variable at much higher prices. Consumers, at this point, can “terminate the contract by choosing another supplier, but the savings margins are now very low“, adds the expert. Another piece of advice is the return to the” protected market “, a measure envisaged if the company were to close its doors due to bankruptcy, as could happen to about seventy small-medium sized companies with about 500 thousand customers.

According to estimates by Facile.it, between promotions and the prices charged by the Pun (Single National Price) on electricity, you can take advantage of some discounts that only make the final bill a little less bitter: the net savings would be around 124 euros, little consolation since prices have doubled compared to the same period last year. In short, no discounts against expensive bills.