Endesa has completed the development and validation phase with real users of the ‘Confia’ project, which is a pioneer in Europe. Thanks to ‘blockchain’ technology, it will enable the processing of cases of energy poverty to be speeded up as much as possible.
The project has the collaboration of the Malaga City Council, the municipality where the trial will take place. This first test has been carried out in collaboration with the University of Malaga. In addition, Ayesa and Izertis, leading international companies in ‘blockchain’, have participated in the development.
The specific aim of ‘Confia’ is to enable municipal social services to detect earlier those consumers who are vulnerable and can access the discount rate. It also provides a simple means of establishing what debt is outstanding so that they can benefit from the aid established by law.
The use of ‘blockchain’ technology will facilitate the procedures, allowing the immediate flow of information. Thanks to the implementation of the project ‘Confía’, the City of Malaga will also have the information in real time, instantly receiving the data on people who have failed to pay their electricity bills.
In turn, the social services will be able to instantly cross-check this information with their own database. They can then contact the company to avoid the power being cut off if the consumer in question meets the criteria to benefit from aid for extremely vulnerable consumers at risk of social exclusion.
Commitment to the fight against poverty
The project is part of Endesa’s commitment to the fight against energy poverty. Since 2014, the company has signed different agreements with local/autonomous authorities and third social sector entities. These are aimed at avoiding supply cuts for users in a situation of energy poverty and certified by the social services. The latter then processes emergency aid to pay the electricity or gas bills of these users.
Endesa currently has more than 270 agreements in force, six of which are with autonomous communities and five with federations of municipalities, while the rest are with town councils and associations. Thanks to all these agreements, it now has the possibility of providing protection to 100% of its most vulnerable customers.
