Four out of a total of eight electricity trading companies have violated the rules on paying back customers' receivables when customers have changed electricity companies. The Danish Electricity Supply Authority has decided this, it states in a press release.
The Authority has investigated whether the electricity trading companies comply with the deadline for final settlement of six weeks after customers have changed suppliers, and whether they repay any receivables to customers at the same time as the final settlement.
- Consumers' free choice of electricity supplier is crucial for competition and thus prices on the free electricity market. It is therefore important that these changes can take place as smoothly as possible. That has not been the case here, says the Director of the Danish Electricity Supply Authority, Carsten Smidt.
Various sanctions
We are talking about the companies Edison El and Dansk Strøm, which have been given injunctions. In addition, b.energy has received both an injunction and a reprimand, while Modstrøm has been reprimanded.
According to the supervisory authority, Modstrøm and b.energy have announced that they have changed their procedures in the future to ensure that the requirements are met. Therefore, they have received reprimands for inadequate procedures at the time the supervision was carried out.
In addition, b.energy has been ordered to ensure that former customers receive any receivables they may have owed. Edison El and Dansk Strøm have been ordered to rectify the violations that have been identified.
The Consumer Council: A victory for consumers
The Danish Electricity Authority's sample survey included ten electricity trading companies. The eight cases have been concluded, while the last two cases are awaiting hearing.
The Authority had received inquiries from consumers, and Jyllands-Posten has previously described how Modstrøm had kept a three-digit million amount, which actually belongs to the final customers. At the Consumer Council Think, director Mads Reinholdt calls Friday's decision a "big victory for consumers".
- This is a total amount of potentially several hundred million kroner that the electricity companies owe consumers, so we expect that consumers can now look forward to getting it back. We also believe that it should be done with compound interest, he says in a written comment.
Modstrøm's director, Anders Millgaard, states in a written response to Jyllands-Posten that he is satisfied that the Danish Electricity Authority assesses that "we have adjusted our procedures so that, according to their assessment, we now comply with the requirements".
Jyllands-Posten further writes that it has not been possible to get a comment from b.energy, Edison El and Dansk Strøm. The Danish Electricity Authority writes that it will follow up on the investigation.
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