“You don’t want to treat customers that way,” Michiel van den Berg, director of Eteck, responds in the TV program Radar to seeing the victims. At the beginning of this year, residents of the Blaricummermeent district of Blaricum were confronted with a sudden increase in the rate for heat and cold storage (ATES).
In the program, the director of Eteck puts his hand in his own bosom. “You don’t want to treat your customers like that,” he says. “We are working hard on the improvements and we are talking to residents.”
Substantial increase
NH previously wrote extensively about the vicissitudes between Eteck and the residents of the Blaricummermeent. At the end of last year, residents were startled by a message from the supplier of the so-called heat and cold storage. The rates for their use and rental would increase considerably, for some residents this would even mean an increase of 73 percent and almost 30 percent respectively.
This while the relatively new neighborhood was marketed as a gas-free neighborhood where residents should not be bothered by the fluctuating energy market. This ultimately turned out not to be the case. After questions from NH, Eteck said that because of the extreme prices of electricity and gas and the rising costs due to inflation, they had no other option than to ‘pass on higher costs to our end users.’
Switching to another supplier was not an option, because a heat network in the Netherlands is always in the hands of one operator. And sometimes even a breach of contract a fine of 1,000 euros per day, recorded in the notarial deed.
Neighborhood in action
So the residents decided to send individual objections to the supplier and to raise the alarm with the Authority for Consumers and Markets, which has had Eteck under stricter supervision since last year.
In the end, Eteck announced at the end of January that it would temporarily maintain monthly invoices based on the 2022 rates and therefore wait before raising the rates. “A small victory,” said the residents. However, that still did not solve the problems.
Hand in your own bosom
Van den Berg informs Radar that the increase in the rates for the use and rental of the ATES is due to the extreme rise in gas and electricity prices on the energy market. Eteck charges the maximum rate to its customers, namely more than 91 euros per Gigajoule.
However, the company denies making “unbridled” profits. “ACM supervises the profit that a heating company is allowed to make. It is 6 percent and Eteck is well below that,” he explains. According to the director, the costs have tripled while the rates are doubling, which squeezes the margins.
In addition to the difficulty with the rate increase, the Blaricummers also find it difficult to get in touch and are poorly helped by the company. “It is unfortunate that our call centers are overloaded,” says the director. Van de Berg also says that it is experiencing a shortage of trained technical personnel and parts, which means that help with storage continues to be suspended.
The residents also lack a good explanation for the increase in rates. Something the director deeply regrets. “We have to do better and I can only apologize to our customers for that.”
Whether the vicissitudes between the Blaricummermeent and Eteck will be resolved soon remains to be seen.