Billy, the government allows suppliers to raise rates for those whose contracts are expiring. Here’s how to protect yourself

Finally out on the field government try to bring order to the chaos of unilateral changes in electricity and gas tariffs offered by companies to their consumers, despite the ban imposed by aid decree bis. However, the orientation is not in favor of consumerssome of which may indeed be especially damaged with accounts even more salty to force companies to recover what they have lost. With a pass to decree of Milprorogapproved on December 21 last year by the executive extend the ban changes from April 30 to June 30, 2023, but also clarifies the point most contested by companies. Establishing that blocking does not apply to expiring contracts. Therefore, users who are part of this audience should look for the best offer using Offer Portal belongingEnergy Administration.

What Milleproroghe says – “The first sentence does not apply to the provisions of the contract that allow the electricity and natural gas supply company to Refresh contractual economic terms after their expiration, in accordance with the terms of the notice provided for in the contract, and without prejudice to the right to output counterparty,” says the latest draft resolution, not yet published in the Official Gazette. The legality or illegality of the ban on tariff changes also for expired contracts was questionable. controversial, due to which the companies announced a tough legal battle. L’antitrust, in its latest move, has also extended the lock to expiring contracts, an interpretation apparently disputed by vendors. which, starting from IreneThe Dolomites and Enel appealed to Tara and the State Council with a request to defend their position.

State Council Statement – The verdict on the merits of the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio is expected in mid-February, and in recent days, the Council of State granted Irene’s request to suspend the preventive measure specifically in terms of overdue contracts imposed by the antimonopoly authority, agreeing with the interpretation of the society. According to the CdS, the body guaranteeing competition would give “an extended interpretation of the provision of the restrictive right which can lead to bias against individual companies or potentially systemic, which are not properly assessed,” the ruling says.

In fact, the benefits of a law born in Aiuti bis dl are questionable from all points of view. Some companies, especially retailers who are also struggling with rising prices, may not renew expired contracts unless they go bankrupt outright. So much so that in recent months, many suppliers have sent letters to customers calling on the court to terminate the existing contract, arguing that they can no longer guarantee the same conditions.

Risks for consumers – In addition, there is a risk that, in the conditions of frozen until June prices for more “happy” contracts (that is, those that fall into the norm), companies will now try to recover what they have lost by extending expiring contracts and, in general, under all contracts that do not fall into the norm. Everything without regard income and various economic situations, but on the basis of a completely random principle: if the contract expires before June 30, the sting comes if it expires after you are protected. In any case, when the blockade expires, companies will still try to compensate for it. Already this summer, Irene herself, in communication with clients, admitted that “the investigation is not provided for by the regulations” (dl Help bis, ed.) will be that “after the expiration of the contracts (mainly from December 1, 2022), these prices will be strongly affected, and in a single detachment in the middle of the winter period, by the increase in the cost of raw materials in recent weeks.”

In a word, the picture promises to be gloomy. Just for now for users who have not switched to the freemarket, but still have enhanced protection contracts gas cost – according to calculations Nomisma Energy – in December, it will increase by 20% (in contrast to electricity, which is expected to decline by 25% in the first quarter of 2023).

How and when to choose a new supplier So what can consumers do to defend? First of all, we need to be sure that our contract falls into the block of unilateral changes. In fact, the rule applies only to those who negotiate a contract in the “free market” at a fixed price, or for a fixed part of the contracts always in the “free market” with a variable price, while the rest continues to change. according to trend Pun for electricity and PSV for gas.

If we return to a block, but the vendor imposes a change that is too onerous, we can always change. There are various portals that compare different offers, including consumer association portals and offer portalEnergy managementwhich, among other things, stipulates that from January 2023, sellers will be required to include on the invoice a link – separate and with appropriate evidence – to the Arera web page for the consumer, with information on the “Electricity and Gas Offer Portal” (provide information on the transition to other supplier and familiarize yourself with price comparison tools), Energy and Environment Consumer Service (for information on dispute resolution and the publication of current offers) and Consumer Portal (for comparing the customer’s current electricity consumption with the same period of the previous year, and also to access additional consumption and historical usage information).

From my side, SOStariffe.it and hound.it warn that “electricity and gas are the only markets in which – unless we are insiders – it is very difficult for us (and perhaps today we are not able at all) to understand how much we pay and what are the real commercial terms on which we supplier reserves for us “. Two comparators tried to clarify: there are only two parameters that consumers can influence to reduce costs. To assess the convenience of the proposal, you need to know fixed delivery cost, does not depend on consumption and is expressed on a monthly or annual basis, as well as the cost of a unit of energy, expressed in euro/kWh for electricity and euro/cm3 for gas. And be aware of how these two factors change over time. For indexed tariffs, the energy cost is updated monthly. However, for fixed price plans, this depends on the length of the promotional period.