Petrol discount, the problem with the national card will be resolved soon

The problems related to using the national service card to enjoy the petrol discount in border towns will be resolved soon. This is what emerged this afternoon during the joint meeting of the Committees on Production Activities and on Budgetary Control.

In the presence of the Chairman of Lombardia Informatica, Davide Rovera, it was explained that what caused the glitches encountered over the last few days was the incompatibility between the new national service cards produced and distributed by the Ministry of Finance supplier and some POS devices. The supplier and the Ministry are working to resolve the problem.

During the meeting, it was stressed that the problem does not depend on Lombardy Region or on Lombardia Informatica.

While waiting for final resolution of the problems, the Member and Secretary of the President’s Office, Daniela Maroni, announced that she is going to ask for an extension for the use of the regional service cards, which are about to expire, and which, unlike the new national service cards, do not present any incompatibility. (Incidentally, one of the first batches of national service cards work perfectly). At the same time, Lombardy Region is asking the Ministry of Finance not to send people the new national service cards before the established deadline, which is three months after the effective expiry of the regional service cards.

The petrol discount card, which was introduced in Lombardy in 2001, was incorporated into the regional service card in 2011. Since 2013, it has been possible to enjoy the discount using the national services card (which is replacing the regional card) but some of the new cards have had problems of incompatibility between the microchips and the POS.

The system is used by more than 300,000 people, with a total of 230 petrol stations, and it provides €18,000,000 in discounts per year. Since 2011, with the regional service card and the first issue of the health and national service cards, more than 20 million transitions have been carried out, with an average of 15,000 per day.