A family from Arrecife has been without electricity for 53 days, after Endesa Distribución cut off their supply for changing the meter cover on June 9. In addition, they have already spent more than 3,000 euros on a new installation, following the company's instructions, but they are still in the dark.
Since then, the woman, her two children and her animals have had to sleep at the house of several friends, given the lack of habitability of the house. "We go from sofa to sofa, I am mentally unbalanced," confesses the mother.
The affected party assures that she spoke with the company by telephone on June 1 to notify them that "she was going to change the meter box" at the entrance of the house, because the plastic cover had broken and it was not sold separately. She also points out that she informed them that "she was going to break the seal".
"They informed me that I only had to notify them when it was changed to go and seal it again and so I did. In that call they offered to open a file, but I preferred that they open it when I called them again, because I did not know what exact day they would change the box," she explains.
Six days later, on June 7, an electrician changed the meter box and the entire installation "worked perfectly", according to the affected party. However, the nightmare did not begin until two days later, on June 9, when an Endesa worker cut off their electricity supply.
"He put a clamp on me and gave me a telephone number in Seville where they provide information about the files opened to customers," she adds. Two months later, she is still without electricity in her house.
An endless number of calls without a solution
After being without electricity, the woman decided to follow the company's instructions and contacted the Seville office. "They told me that they could not inform me why they had cut off the electricity because they were internal matters."
Therefore, she decided to call e-distribución, the electricity distributor of the Endesa group, but since then, after identifying herself with her ID, a recording pops up that is limited to informing her that her supply is cut off "for administrative reasons", giving her as a solution to contact the marketing company.
"My marketing company told me that they had not been notified of anything and, therefore, they did not know that my supply had been cut off. This company wrote a complaint to e-distribución and two weeks after the cut, they replied that my supply had not been cut off and that I did not have any open file," says the affected party.
"What bothers me the most has been Endesa's attitude from the beginning," she insists. Given the lack of solutions, the family filed a complaint with Consumo, and they sent them the distributor's information stating that the cut was due "to the fact that the installation had been changed and it did not comply with current regulations".
A new installation of more than 3,000 euros
With the hope that this would be the final step, the family built a new installation in accordance with current regulations, which also indicates "that it changes every year". "According to the electrician, this installation is what a large industry or a large residential building would need and, therefore, exaggerated and unnecessary for a single-family home like mine," she emphasizes.
Between the connection, the device and the service, among other costs, the family has already spent more than 3,000 euros, an installation that also indicates that it will have to be "transferred to the company".
"Royal Decree 1048/2013 specifies that if the new installation is for the use of a single client, there is no obligation to transfer it, but in practice, until you transfer it to include it in its new asset, they do not manage the request, in this way the company is now the owner of a new installation that has cost me more than 3000 euros, without having to spend money, time or work, they only bothered to put a clamp on me," she explains.
"If it is a voluntary transfer, where is the voluntariness, this is called obligation or blackmail, everything but voluntary," the woman complains.
"The electrician was not certified"
On July 13, the family received a message from Consumo, where e-distribución indicated that the problem of the supply cut had occurred because "they did not give prior notice", but the woman maintains that this is "a lie".
"I have a WhatsApp from June 1 where I explain to the electrician that I have spoken with Endesa and they have only asked me to call after changing it, so I can prove that it is not true that I did not give notice," she emphasizes.
In addition, the woman adds that they also justified themselves by pointing out that "the electrician was not certified", but she defends that "at no time" did they inform her that the electrician had to be certified during the call.
"If the whole problem was that, they could have told me at the time and I would have hired a certified one to remove and put the box back on, there was no need to do so much damage to a family," she insists.
The woman explains that "the application for the new meter has already been made, but now we have to wait a period of 30 days" for them to respond. However, for the moment, the nightmare continues for this family. "On August 9, it will be two months without electricity", she concludes.