“APAGON GENERAL DIA 15 DE FEBRERO - el DIA 15 DE FEBRERO DIA DEL CONSUMIDOR, apagón general de electricidad en los hogares españoles a las 22 horas en señal de protesta por la subida abusiva que ENDESA ha llevado a cabo en sus tarifas eléctricas. La única forma que tenemos de luchar los consumidores contra estas practicas abusivas, es con medidas como esta por eso os convocamos a seguir esta iniciativa que comenzara a las 22 horas y durara 5 minutos.
!!!! OS ROGAMOS QUE LO HAGAIS PASAR AL MAYOR NUMERO DE CORREOS ELECTRONICOS!!!!”
The above email has just reached me and calls on all Endesa users to show their anger over the new rates and billing system by turning off their electricity at 22.00 on Sunday for 5 minutes. If they do then obviously the power giants output will slump for that period.
My colleague Prospero at JimenaPulse has blogged on this extensively especially after being landed with a 200 euros bill. Mind you given his caffeine intake I am surprise he needs Endesa to power him. Our mutual friend Alexander Berwick has been silent on the issue but then maybe Endesa has cut him off.
Whilst outrage has been expressed by the Andalucía government, Facua-A consumer organisation, major businesses and we, the humble users, I suspect the problem is more widespread in Spain. I recently saw a small bar owner on TVE1 Gente in tears after Iberdrola landed him with a bill for 7,000 euros.
Now whilst everybody is taking issue with Endesa over its billing and charges in my own pueblo we live with a third world power supply which is potentially lethal. Both the JimenaPulse and TioJimeno blogs recently carried a photo of the fire brigade being called out because a street cable had caught fire. The power lines run along the outside of properties, over open spaces and abandoned properties and it doesn’t take an active imagination to anticipate what might or will happen.Sadly active in this regard isn’t in the vocabulary of our town hall who merely sit on their hands. If all the residents, businesses and municipal offices went on strike and refused to pay their electricity bill – then something might finally be done by Endesa. True the power hungry company might cut the supply – but to an entire municipality – oh please, do it – can you imagine the national outrage?
So come Sunday at 22.00 I hope you will turn your power off for five minutes. Yes even if you are watching a live soccer match or latest movie! Off can go your lights and other appliances leaving you undisturbed but registering your anger with Endesa.
You may rightly ask will I be supporting the protest too? Yes I will, but I should add that at 22.00 on a Sunday I have long since sipped my Ovaltine and am safely tucked up in bed. Hence both myself and my Endesa meter will be in the land of nod.
(To read Prospero’s excellent blog on understanding your Endesa bill click on this link - http://jimenapulse.wordpress.com/2009/01/28/understanding-your-latest-electricity-bill)
2 comments:
Apropos of the misdeeds of ENDESA you might be interested to see the results of a visit by telefonica to me the other day. They left not only the above mess but me without a telephone, walk around telephone, internet or fireside lamp and a few minutes after their departure there was an almighty flash and all the lights in the house went out!!!!. After various threats to them they have now got things going again and the wire situation looks a bit better but I cannot help feeling that it is a fire hazard!!!.
Thanks for the publicity, Sancho! Actually, you can see more on the above comment on JimenaPulse, including a photo. And we'll be putting up some more stuff about your/our electricity bill...
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