2024-01-08 21:43:34
Couple Elsa Bembaron
Published yesterday at 6:36 p.m., Updated yesterday at 8:43 p.m.
Suppliers’ information obligations will be strengthened. HJBC / stock.adobe.com
The bill relating to energy sovereignty includes a section intended to better supervise suppliers.
Learning lessons from the energy crisis. While in 2022 and 2023 some French consumers saw their electricity bill soar, with adjustments sometimes involving thousands of euros, the government intends to put in place stricter regulation. The bill relating to energy sobriety, which should be presented by the Minister of Energy Transition to the Council of Ministers at the end of the month, or at the beginning of February, includes an important component linked to consumer protection.
First of all, the choice of electricity supplier must be simplified by implementing simple measures. Thus, the supplier must inform the consumer about “the probable amount of the annual bill“. The duration of the contract, its terms of renewal, the existence or not of a commitment period must also be specified. A harmonized model presentation sheet for these offers should also be put in place, which would allow consumers to more easily compare the offers.
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Reinforced obligations
During the contract, suppliers’ obligations towards their customers should also be strengthened. For example, subscribers must be notified three months and no longer one month before a possible modification of the terms of the contract – a price increase, in particular. And one month before, the service provider must provide a presentation of the impact of the modifications, particularly on the invoice. The aim is clear, to prevent consumers from discovering at the end of the period that the price at which they paid for their electricity has skyrocketed. “To learn lessons from excessive regularization practices observed during the crisis, it provides for an obligation for the supplier to immediately propose a revision of the payment schedule, which comes into force unless the consumer objects within two months», Specifies the ministry.
The Ministry of Energy Transition and the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) will also see their sanctioning powers strengthened with regard to suppliers who do not respect the rules in force. The administrative authority may thus impose financial penalties or prohibit an unscrupulous supplier from signing new contracts for a given period of time.
Finally, “the regulated electricity sales tariff (TRVe) will be extended to all professional consumers who employ less than ten people and whose turnover, receipts or annual balance sheet total do not exceed 2 million ‘euros, within the limit of a requested power of 250 kVA’, compared to 36 KVA previously. It thus allows these companies, local authorities, associations or co-ownership trustees comparable to a very small company to benefit from the TRV.
Overall, the market will be better monitored with a tightening in the granting of authorizations granted for the supply of gas or electricity. Thus, new suppliers could be put to the test in a way, with the establishment of “authorizations subject to conditions, or limited in time and space», that is to say reserved for certain customers.
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