ANRE approved a new Regulation for the supply of energy during the extraordinary meeting of the Regulatory Committee on February 3, through which substantial changes are made to the Regulation for the supply of electricity to end customers, which strengthen their rights in order to complete the measures protection, the institution announced.

The new Regulation introduces a series of benefits, the most important of which are the following: the supplier has the obligation to pay the amounts owed by the client in installments, in the case of issuing the invoice late, for a period at least equal to the invoicing period, and the vulnerable client has the right to benefit from the installment payment of the current invoice, without penalties, upon request, for a period of at least 3 months or agreed by the parties. At the same time, the end customer has the right to be properly notified of any intention to change the contractual conditions/clauses, as well as the right to be informed about the actual consumption of electricity and the actual costs, frequently enough, so that it has the possibility to regulate its own electricity consumption.

“The end customer has the right to conclude electricity contracts at dynamic prices, provided they have a smart metering system. The supplier has the obligation to have an internet page through which it makes available to the end customer through password-protected, free, real-time and secure access essential information on its own data regarding the value of the invoices issued and the consumption history related to the place of own consumption, the transmission of the auto-read index , the transmission and management of requests/complaints, respectively a guide with explanations regarding the elements in the content of the electricity invoice model used in the relationship with customers,” the ANRE press release also states.

By approving the new Regulation, ANRE also aimed at simplifying the content of the electricity bill and its related annex, thus fully transposing the provisions of Annex 1 – Minimum requirements regarding invoicing and information regarding invoicing from Directive (EU) 944/2019 on common rules for the internal electricity market and amending Directive 2012/27/EU.

In this sense, according to the new Regulation, the most relevant elements that will be included in the future invoices of final electricity customers are the following:

• identification and contact data of the supplier, including a telephone line for customer assistance, e-mail address and an online electronic form to allow the automatic registration of the request;
• information regarding the time interval in which the client can transmit the self-read index, which cannot be less than 5 days;
• the telephone number provided by the distribution operator to which the place of consumption is connected, where the customer can directly notify the distribution operator of interruptions in the electricity supply, as well as other problems in the electricity supply;
• the date of termination of the contract, if the contract is concluded for a fixed period;
• the reading interval (in the case of domestic customers, “maximum 3 months” will be specified).

At the same time, for a better understanding of the electricity bill, end customers will also receive an appendix that will necessarily include a series of useful information, the most relevant of which refer to:

• comparisons between the customer’s current electricity consumption and the customer’s consumption for the same period of the previous year, in graphic form, if the bills are based on actual consumption or a remote reading by the distribution operator;
• comparisons with an average energy customer, in the same consumption category, if the bills are based on actual consumption or a remote reading by the distribution operator;
• cumulative data for at least the last three years or for the period calculated from the beginning of the electricity supply contract, if the latter is shorter, if the end customer has a meter that allows remote reading by the operator of distribution. The data must correspond to the intervals for which the frequent billing information was issued;
• information regarding the customer’s rights regarding alternative dispute resolution, including the contact details of the responsible entity.

The provisions of the new Regulation apply to both final customers and electricity suppliers, as well as electricity distribution operators and transmission and system operators.