An electricity bill that reaches or exceeds twice the average bill for the same period will have to be suspended and verified within 10 days. This is the mechanism proposed by the Energy Regulatory Entity to protect consumers from unusual bills and overbilling.
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The measure is included in the draft general conditions for universal supply contracts, for which ERE has opened a consultation procedure. In parallel, a regulation has been proposed on the information that electricity bills must contain, reports skyweb.al.
The idea is that a bill significantly higher than the customer’s billing history should not immediately be treated as an ordinary payment obligation. The supplier must suspend it and carry out, through an expedited procedure, its verification, cancellation and replacement with a corrected bill within the 10-day deadline.
This check applies to bills that are equal to or higher than twice the monthly average for the same period. An increase in the bill serves as a signal for verification, without necessarily implying that every higher level of consumption is an error.
To support verification with evidence, the draft regulation requires that any anomaly in recorded consumption, compared with the customer’s history, be documented and accompanied by photographs.
The bill must also distinguish between consumption determined through an actual meter reading and consumption calculated on the basis of estimated or reference values. This enables the customer to understand the data on which the payment obligation was calculated.
Another safeguard concerns complaints: electricity may not be disconnected over a disputed bill until the supplier has completed its review. If the complaint is submitted to ERE, this protection remains in force until ERE reaches a decision. The customer remains obliged to pay all other undisputed bills.
If the verification confirms overbilling, the supplier must cancel the bill and issue a corrected one. If the customer has already made the payment, the excess amount paid must be credited on the bill within the following three months.
In the event of a delay beyond this deadline, the draft also provides for a penalty in favor of the consumer: 0.1% for each day of delay on the amount that must be corrected, to be deducted from the next bill.
Restrictions are also proposed for billing when the meter is not functioning. If it is damaged or does not meet technical conditions and OSSH does not install a proper meter within three months of the problem being identified, responsibility will lie with the supplier. For days without meter readings after this deadline, the bill is to be zero.
These measures aim to detect questionable billing before it burdens consumers and to establish financial liability when compensation is delayed. They are still at the consultation stage and have not yet been finally approved. /skyweb.al
