A family residing in Faro claim they are being forced into financial ruin as a result of exorbitant electricity bills charged by electricity provider EDP. Although they claim not to use the amounts charged, EDP says the electricity meter which is placed in the family’s residence does not show any malfunctions.
The situation reportedly began in early 2012, when the family signed a new contract with EDP Comercial.
“When I signed the new contract with EDP Comercial, which was recommended to me by the company, I was told everything would stay the same,” Dutch resident Jacqueline Imanse-Jongejan told the Algarve Resident.
At the end of the year, however, the family noticed that the amount charged was “substantially” above anything they had paid in the past.
“The bills, which before rarely exceeded €100 a month, started reaching amounts around the €1,000 mark,” said Jacqueline.
“EDP changed our analogue meter for a digital one and after this, the bills began rising incredibly,” she said, adding that the bills began reaching very high values last November.
According to the home-owner, it would be impossible to use so much electricity given the home appliances they have in their property.
Independent opinion
Because the family have had so many problems with the electricity supply in their area, which Jacqueline states even workers from EDP called “a very unstable area” but one they “have to live with”, she contacted several independent engineers who told her that if electricity in an area is not constant enough, “it will harm any digital meter”.
The Algarve Resident contacted EDP, which confirmed that they had visited the property to verify if the meter was functioning as it should be.
“The meter placed in the residence of Jacqueline Imanse-Jongejan was analysed in January, May and August of this year and no anomalies were registered,” said an official source from EDP.
The source added that they also inspected the electric distribution network which supplies the house between August 30 and September 6 and did not find any abnormal activity.
When asked about the reasons behind the high amounts charged by the company, however, EDP refused to comment and added that client information was confidential.
Unavailability to discuss the subject has been one of Jacqueline’s main complaints.
During one of her visits to the EDP office in Faro this summer, she claims she was able to speak to the manager, who she assures told her that the values they were paying were not normal and that she should not pay the bill they were charging her at the time.
However, the unpaid bill resulted in the family’s electricity being cut off, and according to Jacqueline, on a subsequent visit to the office, the same manager was “not as cooperative as before” and “denied claims” that he had ever said the values were abnormal and that she should not pay the bill.
The family, tired of the piling bills which they can no longer pay and EDP’s alleged detachment from the subject, are now attempting “every means possible to get to the bottom of the issue”.
“I have already paid thousands. I cannot do this anymore,” Jacqueline said despairingly.
