Utilities Regulator Receives 320 Complaints Over High Electricity Bills

A total of 320 complaints over high electricity bills had been submitted to the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) as of yesterday, the regulator’s chair Plamen Mladenovski told the parliamentary Energy Committee during a hearing on February 11.

Of the complaints, 152 are against Electrohold, 89 against EVN and 79 against Energo-Pro. A further 80 complaints were received today.

“We are currently carrying out these inspections as a priority. We initiated checks on our own before a single complaint had been filed with the EWRC. As of 4 February, when we launched the inspections, there had not been a single complaint about high electricity bills. After we held a briefing on 5 February, complaints started pouring in,” Mladenovski said.

He noted that many of the complaints appear to come from consumers who use electricity for heating.

“The price of electricity cannot be the reason for higher bills, as it has not been increased since 1 July and remains among the lowest in the European Union,” he added.

According to Mladenovski, a large share of the submissions do not meet the formal criteria of complaints. The commission has been receiving copies of invoices from consumers dissatisfied with their bills, which is slowing down the administrative process.

The EWRC has requested detailed information from the electricity distribution companies.

“We will compare the reported quantities of electricity consumed with the billed amounts for a comparable period — namely January of last year. Despite differences in temperatures, these are minimal,” Mladenovski explained.

He added that the commission is also checking the application of current tariffs, the billing period — including whether it exceeds 31 days — and the method used for currency conversion of bills. So far, no violations have been identified in the currency conversion process, he said.

“Where we establish that a bill is inflated two, three or four times compared to a comparable period, we will remove the electricity meters and send them to a laboratory to verify measurement accuracy,” Mladenovski stated.