18.02.09 - 13:26 -
BILLS. The Junta could still impose a fine on Sevillana-Endesa for the mistakes. / RAMÓN L. PÉREZ
Work out how much they owe you
The Junta de Andalucía has given Sevillana-Endesa a month to start paying back customers who were overcharged in their electricity bills in January.
How did this come about? The errors were made as a result of the new system of sending out electricity bills every month (instead of once every two months) combined with the tariff change at the beginning of the year. While since November customers have been receiving a bill every month, their meters are still being read once every two months.
This means that the amounts on alternate bills are based on an estimate made using the previous year’s consumption but rounded down rather than up.
So what happened? Customers received a relatively low bill and then the power that had not been charged for was added to the next bill which was based on the real reading. This in part explains why the second bill was higher than the first because it included part of the previous month’s electricity.
New year
So far so good. The complications came when, in the middle of all this, December turned into January and the new higher 2009 tariffs came into force. When some customers received electricity bills in January based on the real meter reading they found that all of the kilowatts of power had been charged at the new rate, even though some of this electricity had been consumed at the end of 2008, but had not been charged for on the previous estimated bill.
So far so good. The complications came when, in the middle of all this, December turned into January and the new higher 2009 tariffs came into force. When some customers received electricity bills in January based on the real meter reading they found that all of the kilowatts of power had been charged at the new rate, even though some of this electricity had been consumed at the end of 2008, but had not been charged for on the previous estimated bill.
Not surprisingly Sevillana-Endesa and consumer organisations were inundated with complaints and the Junta de Andalucía stepped in, hence this week’s ruling. This means that the company will now have to recalculate the bills of four million customers in Andalucía with contracts for social and domestic tariffs (up to 10kw/h), including those who have not officially filed a complaint.
On the new revised bills sent out from March 16th, Endesa will have to specify the number of kilowatts consumed in 2008 that were charged at the 2009 rate. The company will also have to report to the Junta every two weeks to explain how much has been paid back.
Blame
Endesa has said that it will start to recalculate the invoices again using two real meter readings. The amount of kilowatts used will be divided by the number of days between the two readings and the correct tariff will be applied to each day. The company has apologised to customers for the inconvenience caused and has blamed a lack of criteria for estimating the bills when the monthly system came into force. The firm also stressed that it had mobilised significant technical and human resources to deal with the complaints.
Endesa has said that it will start to recalculate the invoices again using two real meter readings. The amount of kilowatts used will be divided by the number of days between the two readings and the correct tariff will be applied to each day. The company has apologised to customers for the inconvenience caused and has blamed a lack of criteria for estimating the bills when the monthly system came into force. The firm also stressed that it had mobilised significant technical and human resources to deal with the complaints.
Andalucía has been the first region in Spain to force the electricity company to revise its bills and reimburse its customers, a move that has been described as a “historic success” by the consumers organisation Facua.
