Endesa and Barcelona City Council, via the Municipal Institute of Social Services (IMSS), have signed a cooperation agreement to coordinate the payment of municipal subsidies for debts incurred from the supply of energy and gas.
This agreement underscores the commitment of the IMSS and Endesa to streamline the payment of municipal subsidies to users of social services for debts incurred as a result of such debts.
More specifically, Endesa has made a commitment to facilitate municipal subsidy payments to prevent utility supplies being cut off without charging any commission or interest for late payment. The company will now suspend cutting off electricity and gas supplies as soon as it receives notification from the Social Services Centres informing it that the account holder is in receipt of a subsidy for the supply.
The agreement ensures that the Social Services user will not have their supplies cut off and, and at the same time, social workers can speed up the payment of the subsidy by paying it directly to the company.
Maite Fandos, the Deputy Mayor for Quality of Life, Equality and Sport, underscored the importance of this agreement, which she said shows "the commitment of the IMSS to continue responding to the city’s social needs. Barcelona City Council will continue to provide people with the necessary means to cover their basic needs, which include the cost of maintaining domestic utility supplies". "Furthermore," Fandos continued, "we have done so with a focus on energy and efficiency and continue to seek new mechanisms and to engage the agents involved – in this case Endesa – to achieve our aims."
Fandos emphasised that "we have the necessary means to ensure that the City Council’s network of Social Services can cover all individuals in a vulnerable economic situation who are unable to meet the costs associated with maintaining basic domestic supplies and any other essential need."
Josep Maria Rovira, Endesa’s General Manager for Catalonia, also underlined the agreement’s importance, stating: "Endesa sympathises with the economic and social challenges people face at present and is therefore happy to seek the best possible mechanisms to provide a solution for those who find themselves in vulnerable financial situations."
