EDISON is joining the flood of initiatives being announced to respond to and withstand the COVID-19 emergency, donating 1.5 million euros to help build the Fiera Milano hospital and encouraging employees all over Italy to join the fundraising efforts. Meanwhile, EDISON ENERGIA has announced the suspension of bill payments across Italy for customers most in need.
Milan, April 2, 2020 – In the midst of the COVID-19 emergency, Edison is helping to support the country by guaranteeing essential services, ensuring its 200 electricity plants are fully operational and making sure that supplies of services and energy to clients continue.
Furthermore, in order to ease the burden on those customers worst affected by the health crisis and the shutdown of activities across the country, Edison Energia – the Group’s company dedicated to the sale of electricity, natural gas and services to domestic and business clients – has today announced the “Edison per l’Italia” [Edison for Italy] plan.
“The responsibility we feel towards our clients is an even bigger priority for us at this delicate time, which is requiring all Italian citizens to make sacrifices,” said Edison Energia CEO Massimo Quaglini. “For this reason, in addition to the measures introduced by the relevant authorities, we’ve decide to defer bill payments for all customers experiencing financial difficulty, all over the country. This could include self-employed people, small businesses and people receiving redundancy payments. Our initiative is also targeted at all over-65s who pay their bills by post, in order to help them to stay at home and reduce the possibility of infection. We’ve also strengthened and expanded our e-payment capabilities to make life easier for all our customers.”
Customers accessing the “Edison for Italy” initiative will find useful information and instructions on how to organise a payment instalment plan on the Edison Energia website at https://edisonenergia.it/edison/info-utili/edison-per-italia.
As soon as the COVID-19 emergency began, Edison took swift, organised action by activating the Central Crisis Committee, which has analysed critical issues and adopted measures designed to ensure the safety of staff and implement instructions from the authorities, in order to ensure continuity of electricity and gas supplies and provide support to hospitals.
Thanks to the hard work of the people on the front line, Edison is guaranteeing operational continuity and ensuring that the energy requirements of 67 hospitals and 462 healthcare facilities across the country are met, as well as supporting them in the construction of new treatment areas, such as infectious disease, emergency care, intensive and subintensive care units.
“We’ve moved to organise our operations to ensure the same health and safety levels for our all staff,” said Edison CEO Nicola Monti. “We’ve done that very carefully and I’ve seen extraordinary collaborative spirit. I’d like to thank all our staff and everyone working on the front line to guarantee essential services across production, logistics and services. Special thanks also goes to our colleagues working in hospitals and ensuring that these facilities are functioning properly.”
As soon as the emergency began, we reduced operational staff levels at our production plants in order to adhere to social distancing measures. Meanwhile, all professional and technical staff in our central offices who were able to work remotely were encouraged to work from home. At the same time, we ensured that all staff operating on company premises and at client sites were equipped with all necessary safety equipment, such as masks.
As part of its support for the crisis effort, Edison decided to make a 1.5 million euros donation to help with the construction of the new Fiera Milano hospital, which opened recently. The company also launched an internal fundraising campaign to which all its employees can contribute by donating part of their salary. The Executive Committee agreed a voluntary pay cut to kick off the initiative, which was then extended to all staff. At the end of the fundraising period, which is set for April 10, Edison has committed to at least doubling the amount raised, before donating the money to help a range of initiatives scattered across the whole country.
Comprehensive information on the steps Edison is taking to guarantee essential services can be found in the special section on the website: https://www.edison.it/it/emergenza-covid-19
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Edison
Edison is a leading Italian and European operator in the supply, production and sale – with a network of over 350 sales points – of electricity, natural gas and services to domestic and business clients. Founded over 135 years ago, Edison has contributed to the electrification and development of Italy. It now operates in Italy, Europe and the Mediterranean basin, employing 5,000 people. Edison views sustainability as a business driver and a means of value creation. That’s why the company is committed to moving its business activity in the direction set out by the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goal. Our sustainability policies are based around six action areas: sustainability of business processes, combating climate change, developing people and talent, relationships with customers and the market, the protection of biodiversity, interaction with stakeholders and shared planning.
Edison Press Office
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Elena Distaso, 338 2500609, elena.distaso@edison.it;
Lucia Caltagirone, 331 6283718, lucia.caltagirone@edison.it;
Lorenzo Matucci, 337 1500332, lorenzo.matucci@edison.it
