The Timiş County Commissioner for Consumer Protection (CJPC) fined an electricity and gas supplier in Timiş for incorrect commercial practices, according to a press release from ANPC.

“Following a complaint received at the County Commissariat for Consumer Protection (CJPC) Timiş, regarding incorrect commercial practices used in the activity of an economic operator in the field of electricity and gas supply, a control team performed field inspections”, it said in a release quoted by Agerpres.

The conclusions of the CJPC Timiş commissioners were that the economic operator in question displayed, on its website, the phrase according to which the customer “benefits from the best gas price” which could not be proven by the company’s representatives, the offer comparator proving the opposite, as well as the way in which the consumers’ offer for electricity and gas was presented.

The economic operator had the obligation, according to the law, to present in the offer the final price of the utilities provided, the way in which it acted being contrary to the provisions of Law no. 363/2007.

Thus, the commercial offer specified that the price of active energy is, in February 2021, of 239.95 lei/MWh, without excises and VAT. After calculating the full price, it was concluded that the real price reached the value of 634.03 lei/MWh (including all taxes), which means that the final price was 2.64 times higher than the one displayed in the offer.

The same thing happened in the case of the gas supply, in February 2021, the presented price being of 63 lei/MWh, without taxes included. The final price that contained all the taxes reached 123.88 lei/MWh, almost double the one presented.

The control team from CJPC Timiş considered that the information thus presented by the economic operator in its offer attracts the consumer much easier, finding after the conclusion of the contract that, in fact, the final price to be paid is another, much higher.