Justice of the peace of Milan, judgment 496/2021. Compensation for what Italian law calls danno esistenziale — the damage done to the ordinary conduct of a life.
What the case was about
A household was left without gas, and therefore without heating, for five years. The supply had been cut; the arrears were paid; the connection was not restored. The case grew out of the way the Italian energy market is organised, with the company that sells the gas separated from the company that owns the pipe — unbundling — so that each could point at the other while nothing happened.
The customer had first turned to a consumer association and to the out-of-court settlement schemes. Years passed there without result, which is itself part of the story.
What the court decided
The supplier's conduct was found to be mismanagement, and damages were awarded — not only for the cost of the fuel bought instead, but for the disruption to daily life over five winters.
Why it matters
Two things worth knowing before you spend a year on an alternative route.
Voluntary settlement schemes are not always the shortcut they appear to be. Consumer associations and industry conciliation bodies do useful work in general, but they have no power to compel, and a company that prefers delay can use them to obtain it. A claim before a justice of the peace is cheap, fast, and it ends with an enforceable order.
Italian law compensates more than the receipt. Danno esistenziale covers the practical degradation of everyday life — cold rooms, improvised heating, a house that cannot properly be lived in. It has to be pleaded and proved, but it is real money and it is frequently the larger part of the claim.