BULGARIA’S COURT UPHOLDS A CLASS ACTION BY CONSUMER PROTECTION COMMISSION AGAINST ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTOR CEZ

Bulgaria’s Supreme Court of Cassation upheld a class action filed by the Commission for Consumer Protection (CCP) against electricity distribution company “CEZ Distribution Bulgaria”AD, the CCP said on 24th of August.

In violation of the law, the electricity distributor required end users to pay bills which had been challeneged or in cases when meter tampering had been suspected without any evidence.

Such possibilities existed under unfair clauses introduced by the company in the general terms and condition of the service contracts with the consumers.

One of the clauses states that “submitting a complaint against the bill shall not exempt the consumer from the obligation to pay the amount due”. According to another clause, if the electricity distribution company argues that there was a meter tampering, the company has the right to charge amounts for energy which has not been used by the consumer.

The ruling of the Supreme Court of Cassation requires CEZ to remove the clauses from the contacts’ terms and conditions within a period of two months.

CCP experts remind that based on the ruling of the court, consumers who believe their rights have been violated by the existing unfair clauses can bring legal action for damages, without the need to prove again that the clauses were null and void.

Currently there are several class actions against other electricity distribution companies to void these and other unfair clauses, which were not voluntarily removed from their service contracts when the CCP recommended them to do so.