No to electricity and gas contracts stipulated by telephone. Attention, it is good to avoid providing personal data, especially those relating to bank details. You can also take a step back within the first 14 days of signing the contract. These are just some of the advice provided by Agcom, the Competition and Market Authority that wants to warn us against scams but also against bad choices, in search of the most convenient "gas and electricity" offer.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
No to electricity and gas contracts stipulated by telephone. Attention, it is good to avoid providing personal data, especially those relating to bank details. You can also take a step back within the first 14 days of signing the contract. These are just some of the advice provided by Agcom, the Competition and Market Authority which wants to warn us against scams but also against bad choices, in search of the cheapest “gas and electricity” offer.
How many times have we received calls with promotional energy tariffs, in the name of the so-called free market? We don't count them anymore. Acclaimed for their ability to make us save on bills, these offers, or presumed such, do not always turn out to be convenient.
We have often been told that we must hurry, that we need to change managers, but in reality how explains Agcom, the liberalization of the energy and gas market has been postponed by a year. There is time until July 2020 to choose the one that best suits your consumption from the many solutions.
But before doing that, you need to learn how to know the costs of an electricity and gas bill. Not always easy to read, it contains various items concerning on the one hand the services whose cost is defined by the regulator, therefore the same for the free market and for the higher protection regime, on the other hand the expenditure for energy that can be be variable.
The first case includes: the cost of dispatching, the "cost of transporting and managing the meter", system charges. These items are the same for everyone and cannot be changed by sellers. Another sore point, also common to all operators, concerns taxes, the excise duty which weighs above all on the price of gas.
The only component of the price that varies from one manager to another relates to energy and retail marketing margin. In fact, it is the only component on which sellers can compete, technically defined as "expenditure for raw energy", which constitutes no more than 50% of the final price.
This "energy component" according to the various offers can be fixed for a period of time or variable, so it is necessary to know these details to avoid unpleasant surprises in the bill.
With the aim of helping the consumer and minimize the risks of wrong choices, the Italian Antitrust Authority has developed a Vademecum with all the practical tips to assert your rights, avoid mistakes and 'traps' and tricks most common and make an informed choice.
Index
Never sign or give your telephone consent before reading the supply conditions
Whether they are home visits or promotional phone calls, the rule always applies. It is necessary to be adequately informed about the contractual conditions, before the conclusion of the contract, by means of a printout.
We must not be in a hurry. Often, during visits or phone calls, agents solicit an immediate response using a red herring: the next offer deadline. Furthermore, it is better not to trust deceptively fixed and / or low prices, in which savings are falsely indicated, for example by presenting the value of the energy component (or the cost of the energy raw material) as the overall price, thus magnifying the possible savings and omitting the immutable components determined by the regulator.
What to do? Before proceeding with the contract it is our right to ask for a printed document in which the economic conditions, the duration of the offer and the condizioni which will subsequently be applied are clearly displayed.
Confirm consent in telephone sales
Maximum attention to scams. A dishonest seller can turn our simple expression of interest into a contract, only because we have given consent to the recording of the phone call. Agocm explains that
"According to the correct process of concluding the telephone contract, the consumer has the right to confirm in writing their willingness to conclude the contract, after the phone call in which he expressed his interest in the offer proposed to him ".
Alternatively, the consumer can renounce this right and prefer telephone confirmation, however, giving his explicit consent to the conclusion of the contract in this way. In this case, to avoid scams, write down the exact name of the offer during the call and check the economic conditions on the seller's website before confirming.
Unsolicited activations or denial of the contract
Often sellers or their agents try to steal our data to make us change managers. In the most serious cases, explains Agcom, an agent can ask for our personal, supply and even bank details, boasting the need for technical checks by the distributor or presenting himself as employees of our supplier but in reality he is not. By doing so, he gets our vocal consent to a certain extent.
Some electricity / gas sellers active in home sales correctly carry out a "verification phone call" of consent during which it is possible to confirm the desire to change supplier but also to deny one's consent without having to give explanations and above all without costs. In the latter case, be sure to clearly deny your willingness to activate a new contract.
What to do in case of a scam? "If you are able to prove that the signature is not yours - just compare it with your ID card - or that you are not answering the phone calls, you can deny the contract by submitting a complaint to the complaints address you find on the contract, in the registration or on the professional's website ”says the Authority.
What to do in case of unsolicited activation? First, we have the right not to pay for the supply pursuant to art. 66-quinquies of the Consumer Code. Then we can lodge a complaint with the Competition and Market Authority, finally the unsolicited supplier must report you to the previous supplier according to the restoration procedure provided for by resolution no. 228/17 of the ARERA.
Exercise the right to change your mind
Well yes. We can change our minds. It is the so-called "right of second thoughts", which gives us the opportunity to take a step back if we are not convinced by the offer or if we discover that we have been deceived. We can therefore withdraw from the contract, in the 14 calendar days following the stipulation without conditions or justifications in accordance with the provisions of art. 52 of the Consumer Code.
What to do? To withdraw from the contract, you must send the form or any communication - bearing the identification of your supply (name / surname holder, POD / PDR, tax code, meter serial number (for gas) and the date of conclusion of the contract - to the addresses provided by the seller.
For home sales, the 14 days of reconsideration start from the signing of the contractual form or from the acceptance by the operator of the supplier change proposal from the consumer.
For telephone sales, the 14 days of reconsideration run from when the consumer sends the written confirmation or receives the recording of the confirmation phone call.
Refusal of one-off charges and of charges of unknown origin in the current account
What to do in the event of a notification of current account charges by Authorities or distributors? Let's not be fooled. Agcom warns us by explaining that this is a way to make us believe that the debit that we will find on the current account is legitimate, contrary to the truth.
"The maintenance and modernization works of the electricity, water and gas networks are covered by specific items in the bills (eg, transport and management of the meter), of an amount decided by the Regulator (ARERA) and equal for consumers under the protection and for those on the free market, and are not charged with separate one-off bills. In any case, the Authorities do not contact individual users, except in writing in rare and specific cases. Instead, it is a fraudulent use of your IBAN ".
What to do? In case of charges of unknown origin, we can ask our bank to revoke the SDD charges (which have taken the place of the old RIDs) within 8 weeks from the day on which the debit operation took place.
To consult the vademecum click here
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Francesca Mancuso
