The Lleida Court has ordered a resident of Torre de Capdella to pay €20,022.92 to Endesa for unpaid bills for subsidised electricity.
The Lleida Court has ruled in favour of Endesa regarding claims for the calculation of VAT on subsidised electricity in the Vall Fosca. According to La Vanguardia, the latest ruling, issued on October 6, condemns a resident of Torre de Capdella to pay €20,022.92 plus interest for unpaid bills and overturns the decision of the Tremp court that had rejected the claim.
This decision contrasts with the four rulings issued by that same court in January 2022 in favour of residents who questioned the calculation of the tax. The origin of the conflict is a 1927 agreement, under which communal lands were ceded for the first hydroelectric power station in Capdella. In return, the beneficiary residents receive 10 kilowatt-hours of free electricity per month, pay €0.0021 for each additional kWh, and do not pay the fixed power charge or equipment rental.
The disagreement lies in the taxable base of the VAT. Endesa argues that it should include the price of excess consumption as well as the value of the free supply and the subsidised items, using regulated tariffs as a reference. The residents claim that the tax should be calculated only on the price agreed in the contract.
The General Directorate of Taxes changed its stance and now considers the subsidised supply as a single operation, in which the transfer of the land must also be valued. In a ruling from December 2023, the court set a resident's debt at €10,215.05. In February 2024, it ordered another resident to pay €4,834.21, but declared part of it time-barred, applying the three-year limit of Catalan civil law.
The Court does not impose costs on either party, due to legal uncertainties and the change in the tax authority's criteria. The ruling can be appealed to the Supreme Court.
In March 2021, the Town Hall of Torre de Capdella agreed to pay in instalments and without interest nearly €300,000 that Endesa claimed for the debt accumulated since 2015, and asked residents to do the same. Several continued to self-assess the VAT according to their criteria, and it is they who took the case to court. In November 2021, the CUP reported power cuts affecting more than fifteen residents.
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