The lights have dimmed over the government’s ‘E-Lar’ campaign – designed to encourage households to ditch gas appliances and go electric.
What attracted many at first has come to be seen as a rather hollow sales’ pitch.
In the words of today’s reports: “Beneficiaries of E-Lar are being confronted with limitations and unexpected demands when they go to shops to buy their electric hobs, ovens and thermoaccumulators”.
“Pre-selected items, obligatory costs and charges for the removal of old appliances are some of the complaints that have left consumers to desist from the electronic voucher scheme,” writes Correio da Manhã.
To be fair, consumer association DECO saw this coming – and many Resident readers commented on our original story that ‘nothing’ would persuade them to give up their gas appliances, no matter what cash incentives appeared to be in the offing.
Now, it seems that the cash incentives are rather arch. Put it this way, people going into shops ‘taking part in the scheme’ (ie there is no great choice in where one buys one’s new electric appliances) discover that only a few items are eligible for the ‘electronic voucher’ treatment. Even if other items in the shop have similar qualities, and may be the consumer’s preferred choice, they cannot have them, and receive their ‘marvellous discount’ (see original story for details).
Then there is the surprise that to transport perfectly good gas appliances away for the ‘energy transition/ decarbonisation-friendly alternatives’, suppliers expect to be paid. “Some establishments are charging €80 for the removal of old appliances”, says CM.
When questioned about the legality of these practices, the Climate Agency, which is ‘running the scheme’managing’ E-Lar, responded only that suppliers ‘have a responsibility to promote the collection of old equipment,’ without clarifying whether they can charge for this service.
These latest complaints are in addition to those made by many consumers who applied for the programme and claim they were unable to sign-up due to problems with the website, inaccessible forms and/ or lack of technical support. On the Complaints Portal, there are several reports from people who claim that these operational errors prevented them from completing their application before the E-Lar funds ran out – leaving them unable to take advantage of the support that several of those who got it now seem to be saying they don’t really want…
Source material: Correio da Manhã/ ZAP
