Toulouse: leaving EDF for another energy supplier, he sees his electricity bill soar
Yves, 60, a Toulouse resident saw his bill soar after changing energy supplier. He cannot afford this amount.
This is the type of mail that Yves would have liked never to receive. This Toulousain, collateral victim of the explosion of the AZF factory in 2001 and since beneficiary of the Allowance for disabled adults (AAH) had the unpleasant surprise to discover via a letter from his energy supplier Eni a bill of 658 .39 euros as of April 28. But everything starts a little earlier. At the beginning of the year, this inhabitant of a small two-room apartment located in the Lardenne district of Toulouse decided to change energy supplier on the advice of his daughter. “She pays around fifty euros a month, she offered me to go to Eni so that I could save money,” explains the person concerned. He left EDF in favor of Eni, the energy subsidiary of an Italian oil company which has offered energy contracts in France since the opening of the market to competition.
Rather happy to be able to save money even though he only receives a small allowance allowing him little expense for his pleasure, he discovers two months later that his bill has gone from around 150 euros for two months at EDF to almost 700 euros for March and April at Eni. “I can’t pay, it’s as simple as that. I completely disagree with this invoice. It is written there that I consumed while I live in a very small accommodation, I have almost nothing in terms of equipment apart from a small oil-bath heater that I put on in the evening when I came home, “says – he, particularly affected by the situation. But as a misfortune never comes alone, barely a month after this first invoice, he receives another for 133 euros. Reason: “account closing fees”. “It’s still the height. I had never been told that when I took out the subscription, ”he annoys, ready to fight it out. This is what he has been doing since receiving this invoice. He shakes up all the complaint services and consumer associations to make his dissatisfaction heard.
Conflicting context
And it seems that he is not the only one to dispute his energy bill in recent months. “We have been inundated with requests for some time. The period is particularly contentious on the subject of energy. We have several open disputes with energy suppliers, particularly on the closing costs applied by the latter”, underlines François Carlier, general delegate of the association Consumption Housing Living Environment (CLCV). But the latter specifies that the geopolitical context coupled with the health crisis has caused the energy market to capsize. “The wholesale price of electricity creates obligations, it’s huge! In one month, it has tripled. If the consumer has opted for a contract adopted at the market price, it is logical even if it is harmful that the bills are soaring, ”explains the specialist. So François Carlier advised consumers not to “absolutely look for the right deal in terms of the context” and to opt “for security with prices at regulated tariffs via known energy suppliers”. He generalizes this advice to gas consumers. But this professional in consumer disputes still insists on the fact that these subjects have recently been reported to the DGCCRF so that it can deal with these cases “with the means at its disposal”. Solicited by us, the energy supplier Eni did not formulate an answer.