The Palma-Palmilla Community Plan Project Home reports that dozens of families with legal meters and up-to-date payments have been left without electricity during the disconnections of illegal connections. The electricity company has cut off supply in around twenty blocks since June.
The Malaga neighbourhood of Palma-Palmilla is experiencing a critical situation with the power outages that Endesa initiated on June 30. The company has disconnected illegal connections in around twenty blocks in La Palma and La Palmilla, affecting more than 400 homes. However, the Palma-Palmilla Community Plan Project Home reports that dozens of families who have their legal meters and are up to date with payments have also been left without electricity.
According to the community group, Endesa's operation comes after "decades of inaction" by the electricity company, which had barely conducted inspections or pursued fraudulent connections. The neighbourhood itself had already requested this regularisation in 2011 and again in 2018, in separate municipal plans for the improvement of the area. Now, the intervention has been executed in a "manifestly improvable" manner, they criticise.
One of the most serious points is that, in buildings with a high percentage of fraud, Endesa has been unable to technically distinguish between legal and illegal meters, leaving families who religiously pay their bills without supply. The neighbourhood demands the immediate restoration of all affected legal supplies.
Particularly concerning is the case of dozens of single-family homes in a neighbourhood of 503 houses with proper meters. There, breakdowns that used to be resolved in a few hours are now taking up to five days, because Endesa has requested the accompaniment of the National Police for its technicians during repairs. This worsens the situation for vulnerable individuals, such as children or the ill, during a period of high temperatures.
Since Friday and throughout Saturday, there have also been outages due to breakdowns in La Palmilla and 26 de Febrero, affecting homes and businesses. The community group warns that these interruptions worsen the situation for the most vulnerable individuals.
The statement also criticises the information provided by Endesa's customer service, which they describe as insufficient and sometimes incorrect. They report that in several calls, residents have been told that the outages are a joint intervention by the Málaga City Council and the National Police, something the group denies: they assert it is a unilateral decision by Endesa.
They also point out that the telephone service does not take into account the digital divide affecting older individuals, and that the timelines for resolving breakdowns communicated by the company are systematically unmet.
As a positive side effect, the campaign is encouraging numerous residents to seek public resources to establish homeowners' associations and regularise their supplies. The Municipal Community Dynamisation Service has been guiding residents for weeks on the steps to regularise their supplies, the Government's Social Bonus, support for forming communities, and the notification of electro-dependent individuals, among other procedures.
From Monday, coordination meetings will be held between public workers and neighbourhood associations to design how to advise those affected. In light of residents' outrage, the community plan is collecting data on individuals with legal meters affected by improper outages or excessively slow resolutions, in preparation for possible claims or lawsuits against Endesa.
Next week, an information campaign on the fire risks associated with illegal connections will also be reinforced. Thanks to municipal mediation, customers disconnected for illegal supply who regularise their situation are usually not penalised in most cases; however, if they re-offend, Endesa is already applying fines of between 1,000 and 3,000 euros.
The neighbourhood demands that Endesa urgently plan an improvement of the electrical infrastructure in the area, as the regularisation of supplies will imply an increase in energy demand, in a context of summer breakdowns that have been intensifying over the last four years. Furthermore, the group insists that meter inspections must be continuous and that this responsibility lies with Endesa, as a way to eliminate the culture that has allowed the proliferation of illegal connections.
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