Bills, towards the end of protection: from offers to the vulnerable, here are the government's suggestions via spots

Four commercials to reassure citizens about the consequences of the end of greater protection for non-vulnerable customers (which will come into effect on 30 June) and to help them find their way around the electricity market. The communication campaign wanted by the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security and commissioned by the Single Buyer, as established by the latest Energy Decree, has started in these hours. The spots are visible on Arera's Offers portal. The institutional communication includes airing TV and radio commercials on Rai channels to inform consumers of the new market context. The spots represent the first step of a broader information campaign that is expected to take place over the next twelve months and will also include travelling events in cooperation with consumer associations.

"Through RAI we are bringing to the attention of the general public a message of considerable social relevance," commented the Minister for the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin. "With this campaign we are aiming to provide clarity and reassure citizens: the liberalisation of the energy market will affect about 5 million households, towards whom we have a duty to provide maximum information and ensure every possible control against fraud and abuse to the detriment of consumers.

The protagonist of the commercials is the engineer Lumi, an animated character who guides users through four different scenarios: for those who remain in the greater protection service as well as for those who want to make a different choice, but also indications for those with a bank account and for vulnerable customers. The commercials can also be viewed on the Offers portal and suggest to consumers how to behave in view of the transition from greater protection to the new graduated protection service, the mechanism that will accompany the definitive liberalisation of the electricity market.

What to do, then, looking ahead to the transition that will take place on 30 June? The commercial starring Engineer Lumi suggests to face the transition with extreme tranquillity knowing that, in the absence of an explicit choice, i.e. the identification of an offer on the free market - which is always possible and can be tackled by using the Offers Portal -, you will be automatically transferred to the graduated protection service and assigned to the operator that won the area of reference based on the outcome of the auctions held in recent months.

One of the adverts then recalls the exception envisaged for the so-called vulnerable customers (over 75, social bonus recipients, users living on non-interconnected islands or in emergency housing, persons benefiting from Law 104 for disabilities, users of electro-medical equipment): for them there will be no changeover because the system of greater protection is maintained until the start, again following a competitive procedure, of the so-called vulnerability service.