Thirty-four euros and fifty cents is the amount from which, according to the rules established by the Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks and the Environment (ARERA), the reimbursement to which anyone is entitled to remain without electricity for too long during heat waves is entitled. An aspect that is almost unknown, and which is instead worth keeping in mind now that air conditioners and cooling systems are putting the electricity networks of half of Italy to the test. The mechanism is not new, it has its roots in the TIQE, the Integrated Text on the Quality of Electrical Services, and promptly comes back into focus every summer, when the overload due to air conditioning sends entire neighborhoods into a tailspin. The principle is simple: if the manager does not respect the supply restoration standards, the user is compensated, without having to ask for anything.
The thresholds and amounts
As ARERA clarifies in the section dedicated to consumer rights, the domestic customer with power up to 6 kW is entitled to an automatic compensation of 34.50 euros when the interruption exceeds the maximum times established by the Authority’s standards. The figure would increase by 17.25 euros for every four additional hours of darkness, up to a ceiling of 240 total hours of interruption. Beyond that threshold, the automation stops, because no further refunds are foreseen, just as they are not due to anyone who is not up to date with payments or in the event that the failure is attributable to personal responsibility. One last, and by no means trivial, clarification: automatic compensation does not close the game. If the blackout were to cause concrete damage, such as a burnt household appliance, the right to compensation according to the ordinary rules of the Civil Code would remain unaffected, subject to demonstration of the causal link with photographs, receipts and technical reports.
How the refund arrives
No question is needed, given that the distributor records the interruption and the supplier credits the sum directly on the bill, under the dedicated item, generally within sixty days of the event (times which can extend up to 180 days if the outage were to involve a very large number of users, as happens in summer blackouts linked to particularly severe heat waves). For details of the restoration standards, the hourly thresholds differentiated by municipality area and the rules applicable to non-domestic users, the complete regulatory reference is Annex A to resolution 617/2023/R/eel, which updates the TIQE, in particular Title 5, dedicated precisely to the regulation of prolonged interruptions.
