Local Connections

Well, it’s either a scam or gross incompetence on a national scale. Many of my Spanish friends think it, and so do I.

Have you checked your electricity bill lately? Are you happy with it? If you are and if it is correct, then you are lucky indeed -- privileged perhaps. There has been some considerable confusion amongst users and no acceptance by Endesa (formally Sevillana-Endesa) that there is any problem; it’s just that we don’t understand the system -- the new system. Maybe we don’t, but I have been trying to.

In the good old days we used to get a bill every two months and things seemed to run smoothly. Well, almost smoothly, except that whoever it was they sent round to read the meters in our area seemed to have a problem noting down numbers correctly. I had heard of readings that were too low and of course readings that were too high. About 18 months ago, I had a bill which showed an incorrect reading; incorrect  by a very large amount. It was impossible that a digit had been incorrectly read, the whole thing was a fiction. After complaining, I managed to get redress to the amount of €220, the value of the incorrect reading. At this point I was not very negatively disposed towards the great company Endesa; I put the problem down to an individual’s ineptitude.

Then came the Government’s decision, for reasons best known to themselves, to insist that Endesa bill every month. It quickly became apparent Endesa had no intention of sending people out to read meters every month. That would possibly double costs, so their solution was to estimate the first month and read the second month. Many people thus received one very low bill followed by a very high bill. No problem in that unless of course the new system was introduced over the December-January period and when the prices were increased for January. And that is precisely what happened. And usage between December and January won’t vary much if you don’t go away on holiday, I suppose. Last year El Pirata had a low estimated bill of 480 kilowatts for December, but a huge 1200 kilowatts for January, the latter at the higher prices. I know for a fact that many other people had a similar problem: some did, some didn’t – and some did but hadn’t checked their bills closely. We all knew that the kilowatt price had gone up a few, well-announced percentage points, but there were very few of us who realised that the excess usage charge (recargo exceso consumo) had been increased by significantly more than 100%, and now we were hitting the excess limit because everything was being loaded into January.

I went to the local office, stood in line with a host of complaining locals and complained. That proved to be a total waste of time, so I spoke, with great difficulty, to Endesa by phone, also on behalf of a few friends who had experienced similar problems. Endesa did respond in their own unique way, by issuing two new bills for December and January. I studied these new bills long and hard but could not understand the logic of the changes made. They had deducted 360 kilowatts from my bills, and moved a pathetic 36 kilowatts from January to December. Well, It’s better than a poke in the eye with a live wire, I suppose. I asked for clarification as to what they had done, what the basis of the new bills was, but I received none. What is worse, after waiting some considerable time I still hadn’t received the refund.

The Government, recognizing the almighty mess, had instructed Endesa to sort the problem, but it seems the problem had only been massaged on paper and not in fact.

Some time later I went back to the local office, but that was another waste of time. I tried on numerous occasions to phone the Endesa Customer Service line – a call you have to pay for incidentally. I phoned about eight times in all and was repeatedly told –and by crackly machine - that they were ‘unable to take my call at present, please phone later’. As a last resort I went to OMIC, the Consumer Office in Antequera where I met a very helpful but totally frustrated clerk, who showed me a very large file of similar complaints from angry locals. I was asked to fill out a form and write a report (in Spanish of course) of the problem. This I did, it was all stamped in various copies and sent off at the end of April 2009. Since then Endesa have failed even to acknowledge receipt of my complaint – or to any of the others, so I was informed. The man at OMIC confessed that the system doesn’t work because companies such as Endesa (and dear Telefonica) do just what they want, and the indication was that there was some kind of ‘special relationship’ between these monopolies and the state. Of course the market is in the process of being opened up, but don’t get your hopes up.

I asked OMIC what further action I could take to get my money back and his only suggestion was to send a similar complaint to ‘The Defender of the Andalucian People’ – a Spanish equivalent to an Ombudsman. I did think seriously about this but I’ve finally decided to give up on the idea of getting my money back – and I’m going to take the Spanish way to resolve the problem – suggested to me by a Spanish friend: just go out, have a few beers and forget the whole thing. The system of redress exists but in fact, it doesn’t work.

And what has happened this month of December? I have received a bill for zero kilowatts based on two estimated readings, which means that I have had three estimated readings in a row now. I think, with January and yet another increase looming, Endesa is building up to hit me with something very big again, not to mention the excess usage charge. I think I’ll go and check my meter.

Is it a scam or just gross incompetence, or maybe the man who can’t read numbers is off sick? Remember, if you have a problem with your bill, don’t bother to complain – just have a drink or two and forget it.

By Roger Jolly ‘El Pirata’