For the Court of Cassation, the adjustments of Abbanoa are legitimate. The judges of Piazza Cavour overturned a sentence of the court of Sassari which, on the basis of the appeal of a user, had declared that the money, unrelated to consumption, that the water manager had requested in 2014, for previous years, to be undue. all those who had a connection to the network.
The uproar had broken out: protests, class action (still standing) and appeals to all kinds of courts. Many losers: because, it is the synthesis of many Sardinian judgments, the costs of the service cannot be re-determined ex post - even if the costs are used to guarantee the service - and there is a five-year limitation period.
In the Supreme Court they think differently.
"On the subject of integrated water service", reads the device that accepts Abbanoa's appeal, "the adjustment for previous items implies the application of a cost now by then, so that, before determining the cost items to be recover, there is no possibility of recovery and, therefore, the possibility of exercising the relative right ".
The ball has now returned to the Sassari Court. Which will have to express itself on the basis of this principle. To which all the other judges called to decide on similar disputes should also adapt.
“The judges of the Supreme Court confirm what has always been maintained by the sole manager, legally represented by the lawyers Ernesto Stajano and Piero Guido Alpa”, reads a note from the company.
Commenting on the sentence of the Supreme Court also the president of the Board of Directors of Abbanoa, Franco Piga: "Beyond the controversy, the vast majority of our customers had understood the legitimacy of previous matches, which represented an alignment of the costs incurred to guarantee a service, integrated water, which is essential in everyday life. The tariffs and therefore the relative invoicing are based on the principle of full cost recovery, sanctioned at European level, which implies the total recovery of the costs of the service ".
"The contested sentence", the judges of the Supreme Court explain in the provision, "turns out to be erroneous, as it made the statute of limitations for the costs subject to adjustment run before they were determined by the administrative authorities".
The provisions of the then Authority for Electricity, Gas and Water Services (Aeegsi), which had governed the adjustments at national level, date back to 2013. In 2014, however, those of the Area Government Body that had them quantified at the regional level. It is the same year in which they are billed (on average 151 euros per user spread over 8 half-yearly installments).
However, the sentence will not stop the judicial battles undertaken against the adjustments: the sentence of the Cagliari Court of Appeal is still awaited on the class action brought to have bills for tens of millions of euros canceled.
(Unioneonline / EF)