End-consumers could run out of electricity if the supplier has debts to distributors or producers

An update of the Electricity Supply Regulation, approved by GD 1007/2004, is under public debate on ANRE’s website. According to such document, the consumer risks to run out of electricity, even if its payments are to date, if the supplier has debts to distributors or producers. The update of the regulation is necessary, according to ANRE, to align the regulatory framework of retail market with the provisions of the Electricity and Natural Gas Law no. 123/2012, as well as with the evolution of the electricity market. Under the new regulation, customers receiving energy from a supplier with debts to the transmission operator, distributor or other operators, including outstanding debts to the wholesale market could remain without electricity. The article 19 of the draft regulation shows that the end-customer acknowledges that it risks to be disconnected if “it receives a prior notice of disconnection, because its supplier failed to meet payment obligations on the wholesale market. To avoid such situation, within the notice period the end-customer may terminate the supply contract for convenience and change the supplier, including by transfer to the supplier of last resort”. The notice period is at least 15 years and also covers consumers without debts to suppliers. The context is represented by the case in which the supplier “collects money from the end-customer without making further payments to other operators (transmission, distribution, balancing market), taking advantage of the fact that the consumption place cannot be disconnected”.