URSO: We're Removing Discrimination in Electricity and Gas Consumption
Bratislava, January 26 (TASR) – The Office for the Regulation of Network Industries (URSO) on Wednesday concluded price proceedings resulting in the removal of discrimination against certain consumers of electricity and natural gas, URSO spokesman Radoslav Igaz announced on Thursday.
By introducing a standard ratio of the fixed and variable components of distribution prices, URSO seeks to achieve an efficient use of the distribution networks. If the reserved capacities of individual customers correspond to their actual consumption, most of them will eventually see lower electricity and gas bills compared to last year, said Igaz.
URSO noted that some significant changes have been introduced as of January 1. These include a change between the fixed and variable components of the charges, while the overall distribution prices haven’t increased, or they have even dropped. The tariff structure has also been changed, with individual customers being placed into new tariff groups reflecting their actual consumption.
Igaz stated that URSO has begun receiving consumers’ complaints against increased advance payments in recent weeks. At the same time the Government last week asked URSO to provide an explanation for the situation. For the sake of protecting consumers and removing discrimination, URSO subsequently revised its earlier decision in order to provide more time for customers to optimise their reserved consumption capacities.
Meanwhile, URSO chief Jozef Holjencik ordered inspections to be carried out with the most affected consumers. The change in the structure of tariffs for electricity supplies created certain anomalies with consumers who had inappropriately high maximum reserved consumption capacities (represented by the values of their entry circuit breakers), said Igaz, adding that this will be addressed in the near future.
At the same time all consumers will receive new invoices for advance payments from their electricity and gas providers, announced Igaz.
“URSO has also ordered distribution companies to be prepared to deal with all cases with their customers even on an individual basis,” added Igaz.
