How long should the bills be kept? This is a question that many ask themselves. We often find ourselves with drawers full of payment receipts and bills, kept over the years for fear of any requests for payments.
It is not so rare the situation in which a company supplying a service requests the payment of an amount already paid. Thanks to the payment receipt, it is possible to contrast illegitimate claims by demonstrating, in this case, the payment already made.
Specifically, what must be kept is the payment receipt. This is in fact proof of compliance. The bill, in itself, is instead a document necessary for the user to check consumption and the various items that then determine the payment.
INDEX
- How long should the bills be kept: electricity, gas, water and telephone?
- Storing bills: why is it important?
- Prescription for debts beyond two years: how does it work?
- Unpaid bills: the lies about foreclosure and reporting to the Crif
How long should the bills be kept: electricity, gas, water and telephone?
Most documents must be kept for a period that varies between five and ten years.
The statute of limitations for bills, i.e. the period of time beyond which the supplier can no longer ask for any payment, vary from type to type of bill. In recent years, these terms have also undergone some changes.
How long should the electricity, gas and water bills be kept? As regards these supplies, the limitation period is 2 years. This is what is established by the new supplement to the 2020 budget law, number 160 of 2019. Previously, the prescription was 5 years, it will therefore be necessary to pay attention to the date of approval of the prescription and to assess whether the date of issue of the bill falls within the terms.
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In particular:
- electricity: the limitation period passed from 5 years to 2 years on 2 March 2018;
- gas: the limitation period passed from 5 years to 2 years on January 2, 2019;
- water: The statute of limitations went from 5 years to 2 years on January 2, 2020
- telephone: the limitation period is 5 years.
The electricity bills, which also contain the RAI fee, do not fall within the terms mentioned above. The television tax has in fact a much longer limitation period, this bill must therefore be kept for ten years.
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Storing bills: why is it important?
Despite living in an increasingly digital age, bureaucratic procedures continue to be many. Bills and bills pile up, leading to clutter and increasing the risk of not finding the necessary documents when needed.
The electricity, gas and water bills are not to be kept for life, however they must be kept for a period of time that we will define later.
Getting rid of some documents too early exposes you to the risk of arrears . In the face of a dispute of non-fulfillment , it is in fact important to have the payment receipt handy to avoid not paying twice for the same service.
It is always up to the debtor to prove the fulfillmentand, in the case of bills, this proof can only be documentary. Knowing the credit prescription times for bills according to the terms set by law is therefore very important.
According to Article 293 of the Civil Code , a supplier can request the payment of a bill by a certain date. Once the legal deadlines have expired, if the payment has not yet been made, you are no longer required to pay it. If, on the contrary, the request is presented within the terms of the law, and you are not in possession of the payment receipt, you have to bear the expense again, plus interest and penalties.
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Prescription for debts beyond two years: how does it work?
For the debts of water, electricity and gas, ARERA, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks and Environments , has imposed an addition to the 2020 budget law, number 160 of 2019, leading to the approval of the prescription of unpaid bills for over 2 years.
The integration was approved by resolution of May 26, 2020 (184/2020 / R / COM) and concerns in particular the invoicing of amounts referring to consumption dating back more than two years.
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ARERA has requested that the arrears dating back more than two years be specified directly in the bill and that may not be paid according to the budget law 160/2019. Previously, two separate invoices were issued: one with the details of the current bill, the other with the details of the arrears.
The user must accept the prescription relating to the amounts reported in the bill by communicating the will. The possibility of such communication must be reported directly in the bill, the user must also fill in a form with his personal data and the requested information.
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The right to collect a performance expires if it is not exercised within the terms established by law. If, on the other hand, before the expiry of this term, the right is exercised in any way, the limitation period is interrupted and begins to run again from the beginning on the following day. This interruption can be obtained through a registered letter. A registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt (registered letter with return receipt) is not necessary, but a simple registered letter is sufficient.
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However, the so-called “return postcard” (the one of the registered letter with return receipt) will be used to demonstrate the actual receipt of the package.
Unpaid bills: the lies about foreclosure and reporting to the Crif
The shorter time limit for electricity, water and gas bills makes credit recovery attempts increasingly difficult. Resorting to a registered letter of warning for each defaulting user becomes very expensive for the supplier companies, both economically and in terms of time.
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For this reason, companies often resort to contacting customers through the use of call centers and thus try to obtain a spontaneous fulfillment of the arrears. In doing this, the telephone operators try every expedient to convince the customer to satisfy the arrears. Not infrequently there are situations in which users are even threatened with foreclosure or reporting to the Crif.
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The CRIF is a private company that evaluates the reliability of a banking entity that has or has had dealings with lenders. It follows that the reports to the Crif arise only from loan contracts, financing, current accounts, credit lines and any other legal relationship with financial intermediaries. The electricity, water, gas and telephone companies are not such, therefore if a bill is not paid, one cannot be reported either to Crif or to the Central Risks of the Bank of Italy.
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As regards the risk of foreclosure , this is a very unlikely situation as judicial action is required to proceed with such an action . If the supplier is not inclined to face the costs of the warnings by registered mail, I will certainly have more reluctance to proceed before a justice of the peace for the recovery of such a low credit, taking into account the high legal costs. Furthermore, the supplier company is able to limit the damage from arrears by suspending the supply.
