Electricity and gas companies, in addition to marketing energy, often offer additional services of assistance and maintenance, and it's very likely that you don't know and don't know that you're paying for them (Servigas from Naturgy or ENDESA X from Endesa, for example).

What are these services?

It's practically impossible to make a complete list, but generally speaking, these additional services How do insurance services work: that is, you pay a small fee every month and when you have a fault a technician comes to fix the problem. Some of the services offered are the maintenance of facilities, protection of appliances, payment insurance, emergency services or energy efficiency certificate.

What does it mean to have these services contracted

That said, it seems quite good to have these services included to cover an incident that may occur to you. But this assumes:

• Know that you have contracted this service: Electricity and gas bills are very complicated, there are many different concepts, and it's not easy to identify these services for a person who doesn't know the system well. So, often, the customer doesn't know that they have these added services.
• Lack of information: It's also important to note that, often, marketers don't clearly inform you that they're adding these services to your generic supply contract. They usually only communicate information about the supply, and later you receive a contract to sign by email containing these additional services. When you sign, you unknowingly hire a support service.
• When changing tenant or landlord: the previous contract is maintained and a change of ownership is made. If the previous owner had a support service, the new one will also have it (and pay) without knowing it.

What you need to know if you hire and pay for these extra services

• It is very likely that the incident you have is already covered by the contracted service. But, as with common insurance, there are things included and others excluded within the service. The transfer of the technician, working hours, replacement of broken parts, complete replacement of equipment, franchise, 24/7 intervention... The support contract defines exactly what is covered or not covered within the service. Each contract can have “small print” and it's important to be well aware of the conditions you sign. In general, unfortunately, such a support service is not an “all-inclusive” one.
• That you could be paying for this service with two different providers. If you have 2 different retailers for the supply of electricity and gas, you may have an assistance service in each contract and you don't know it. It may also be that the incident you have is already covered by other contracts: warranty of the equipment, assistance and maintenance service contracted with the equipment (boiler, for example), assistance service included in home insurance, contract already made with an electrician. In Polaroo we had a customer who paid for 3 different support services without knowing it.
• That they force you to have permanence. The additional services that marketers add to you are almost always valid for 12 months, with automatic renewal. So, if you want to leave the service, you have to pay what you have left until the renewal date. Even sometimes, the support service is completely independent of the supply service. If you change your retailer, the support service continues to work, and you continue to be charged per month until you drop it specifically.

Your Polaroo manager informs you

These additional support and maintenance services can be useful, but it's very important to understand how they work to know if they are worth hiring. From Polaroo we encourage you to contact your manager and find out what you have contracted and if it pays to have these additional services. Don't hesitate to ask us! You can also request more information through your online form.