ANRE approved Regulation on the organization and operation of the online switching platform for electricity and gas suppliers and for contracting the supply of electricity and gas. The order approving the Regulation enters into force on the date of publication of the Official Gazette and will apply from 28 August 2022.
The regulation provides the framework for the implementation of the online platform that optimizes the operational processes in the energy market, states ANRE in a press release, “in order to reduce bureaucracy for citizens and the business environment, generated by requests to change the supplier.” The solution is a “fully automated information flow management to meet requests, meet legal deadlines and efficiently use the financial and human resources of all entities involved”.
Source: ANRE Legend: CF – end customer, POSF – online switching platform, FA – current supplier, FN – new supplier, OR – network operator
Starting from July 1, 2020, ANRE is carrying out the project “Developing the institutional capacity of the National Energy Regulatory Authority to simplify the process of changing the electricity and natural gas supplier”, co-financed by the European Social Fund, through the Operational Program Administrative Capacity 2014-2020. Through this project, which will end on June 30, 2022, it will be possible to meet the new European requirements that provide that by 2026 the technical process of changing the supplier to be completed in 24 hours, as well as achieving interoperability of data on changing the provider in terms of the format.
EU Directive 944 of 2019 states that “the change of supplier or market participant involved in the aggregation shall be achieved as soon as possible” and the Member States shall ensure that “a customer wishing to change the suppliers or market participants involved in the aggregation, subject to the terms of the contract, he shall be entitled to such change within a maximum of three weeks from the date of the request”. The directive also requires that the technical change of supplier process take less than 24 hours by 2026 at the latest and must be possible on any working day.