Deco has advised hundreds of Galp’s electricity and gas customers, not to pay their bills.Delays by Galp in failing to send out their invoices on time, a contractual essential, has placed many consumers in the enviable position of being entitled to refuse payment.
The delays have been caused by the age old excuse for incompetence, “a change in the company's billing system,” leaving hundreds of electricity and natural gas customers with a free energy supply.
The mid-2017 change in Galp's billing system, caused long delays in sending out bills, 350 Portuguese families have never received one and now may owe thousands of euros.
Ana Sofia Ferreira, coordinator of Deco's Consumer Support Office, said that "at the end of March we had consumers who had not yet received an invoice, with a delay of eight or nine months." She advises these lucky ones simply refuse to pay.
"We are facing a breach by the company, because the frequency of invoicing is one of the contractual conditions. It is not the first time that Galp has had a problem in its billing system, which ends up having serious repercussions due to the fact that a large numbers of consumers will be harmed by this situation," added Ferreira.
On 10 April this year, the Energy Services Regulatory Authority issued a 'recommendation' regarding delays in billing by electricity and gas companies which will digested and then ignored.
The mid-2017 change in Galp's billing system, caused long delays in sending out bills, 350 Portuguese families have never received one and now may owe thousands of euros.
Ana Sofia Ferreira, coordinator of Deco's Consumer Support Office, said that "at the end of March we had consumers who had not yet received an invoice, with a delay of eight or nine months." She advises these lucky ones simply refuse to pay.
"We are facing a breach by the company, because the frequency of invoicing is one of the contractual conditions. It is not the first time that Galp has had a problem in its billing system, which ends up having serious repercussions due to the fact that a large numbers of consumers will be harmed by this situation," added Ferreira.
On 10 April this year, the Energy Services Regulatory Authority issued a 'recommendation' regarding delays in billing by electricity and gas companies which will digested and then ignored.
The Authority received more than 8,600 complaints related to electricity and gas billing last year, more than half of these concerned Galp and its inability to send out invoices on time.
With Galp’s now proven inability to run a simple billing system, critics are right to ask how this company can be expected to coordinate the technological intricacies of oil production, should it be allowed to start drilling off Aljezur this year.
