Bills, Antitrust corrects the measures: price increases are prohibited, but only if the offers are not expiring. The confirmation of the Milleproroghe

After the sentence of the Council of State on the Iren affair and in conjunction with the publication of the Milleproroghe decree in the Official Gazette, the Antitrust returns to the precautionary measures it had adopted against some electricity and gas suppliers regarding the practices of unilaterally amending contracts or foresee price increases when the offers expired to be replaced by new conditions.

The Antitrust has partially confirmed the precautionary measures of the Antitrust against Enel, Eni, Edison, Acea and Engie for alleged illegitimate unilateral changes to the economic conditions for the supply of electricity and natural gas. This was announced by the Competition and Market Authority itself, explaining that the measures “are in line with the principles expressed by the Council of State in the ordinance of 22 December 2022”. On the other hand, the precautionary measures against Hera and A2A.

In detail, as regards the provisions of December 12 on Enel, Eni, Edison, Acea and Engie, the confirmation concerns the suspension of only the unilateral changes to the economic conditions not due to expire, which result in violation of the Consumer Code and in contrast with the art. 3 of the Decree Law of 9 August 2022, n. 115 (so-called. Aids BIS), converted into Law no. 142 of 21 September 2022. “This last provision, as deemed by the Council of State, suspends, from 10 August to 30 April 2023, the effectiveness of both the contractual clauses that allow sales companies to change the supply price and the related notice communicationsunless the price changes have already been finalized before the entry into force of the decree itself”, recalls the Authority.

And he explains again: “The Council of State, with the order with which it only partially suspended the precautionary measure issued against Iren, limited the scope of the aforementioned article 3 to only ‘ius variandi for contracts that have not expired and not to contract renewals resulting from deadlines agreed by the parties'”. leads to much higher bills.

Having received this orientation, the Agcm has now moved accordingly. In practice, the distinction is whether or not you have provided a clear and well-communicated expiry date to the consumer. If this exists, the renewal proposal with a higher price is legitimate. If this was not foreseen and the company is now proposing, that obviously the economic conditions have worsened, a tweak, it is wrong.

In fact, Agcm confirms the precautionary measures against Enel, Eni, Edison, Acea and Engie “suspending the effectiveness of all communications of unilateral changes and/or renewal/updating/variation of the economic conditions of the offer of permanent contracts, without a clear, effective and predetermined or predeterminable expiry“. In practice, where a peremptory term of the offer was not indicated, the increase triggered in defiance of the Aiuti bis decree continues to be put offside. “Therefore, in execution of the Authority’s provision, the aforementioned companies will not be able to change the economic conditions of supplies to consumers, condominiums and micro-enterprises that do not have an effective expiry”.

Within five days, Enel, Eni, Edison, Acea and Engie will have to notify the Authority of the successful execution of the suspension provisions. Finally, for Hera and A2A, the Authority “has not recognized the details for the confirmation of the related precautionary measures, given that, on the basis of the documents acquired, it appears that the changes communicated by the same concerned economic offers actually expiring”.

In addition to the Antitrust, updates also arrive from One thousand extensions which is officially published in the Official Gazette. In fact, the ban on unilateral changes to electricity and gas contracts by supplier companies in the case of renewals of expiring contracts has officially been lifted. The text of the decree confirms the amendment which extends the suspension of the unilateral amendments by two months, until June 2023. But it excludes from the prohibition the “contractual clauses which allow the supplier company to update the economic conditions upon expiry of the same”. All this “in compliance with the terms of notice provided” and “without prejudice to the right of withdrawal”.

“The law aims at a double objective: to protect citizens and consumers in these difficult months and at the same time guarantee and protect the economic initiative of those companies most exposed to the persistence of the instability of the energy markets”, specifies the Minister of the Environment Gilberto Picket. “As Mase and as a government, the utmost commitment is made to support families and entrepreneurs in this difficult situation. I thank the president of the Antitrust Rustichelli who reported the issue allowing us to collaborate in resolving the problem. More in detail, the new law clarifies that the suspension of unilateral amendments does not apply to those clauses which allow for the updating of the contractual economic conditions upon expiry of the same, in compliance with the terms of notice and without prejudice to the right of withdrawal of the counterparty. supplier companies, which in the face of increases in natural gas prices “almost 7 times the average of recent years”, would be forced to “sell energy for the next few months at a significantly lower price than the purchase price”.