DIRECTIVE (EU) 2019/944 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 5 June 2019 on common rules for the internal market for electricity and amending Directive 2012/27/EU (recast) (Text with EEA relevance)
DIRECTIVE (EU) 2019/944 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
of 5 June 2019
on common rules for the internal market for electricity and amending Directive 2012/27/EU
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR BILLING AND BILLING INFORMATION
1. Minimum information to be contained on the bill and in the billing information
1.1.The following key information shall be prominently displayed to final customers in their bills, distinctly separate from other parts of the bill:
(a)
the price to be paid and a breakdown of the price where possible, together with a clear statement that all energy sources may also benefit from incentives that were not financed through the levies indicated in the breakdown of the price;
(b)
the date on which payment is due.
1.2.The following key information shall be prominently displayed to final customers in their bills and billing information, distinctly separate from other parts of the bill and billing information:
(a)
electricity consumption for the billing period;
(b)
the name and contact details of the supplier, including a consumer support hotline and email address;
(c)
the tariff name;
(d)
the end date of the contract, if applicable;
(e)
the information on the availability and benefits of switching;
(f)
the final customer's switching code or unique identification code for the final customer's supply point;
(g)
information on final customers' rights as regards out-of-court dispute settlement, including the contact details of the entity responsible pursuant to Article 26;
(h)
the single point of contact referred to in Article 25;
(i)
a link or reference to where comparison tools referred to in Article 14 can be found.
1.3.Where bills are based on actual consumption or remote reading by the operator, the following information shall be made available to final customers in, with or signposted to within their bills and periodic settlement bills:
(a)
comparisons of the final customer's current electricity consumption with the final customer's consumption for the same period in the previous year in graphic form;
(b)
contact information for consumer organisations, energy agencies or similar bodies, including website addresses, from which information may be obtained on available energy efficiency improvement measures for energy-using equipment;
(c)
comparisons with an average normalised or benchmarked final customer in the same user category.
2.
Frequency of billing and the provision of billing information:
(a)
billing on the basis of actual consumption shall take place at least once a year;
(b)
where the final customer does not have a meter that allows remote reading by the operator, or where the final customer has actively chosen to disable remote reading in accordance with national law, accurate billing information based on actual consumption shall be made available to the final customer at least every six months, or once every three months, if requested or where the final customer has opted to receive electronic billing;
(c)
where the final customer does not have a meter that allows remote reading by the operator, or where the final customer has actively chosen to disable remote reading in accordance with national law, the obligations in points (a) and (b) may be fulfilled by means of a system of regular self-reading by the final customer, whereby the final customer communicates readings from the meter to the operator; billing or billing information may be based on estimated consumption or a flat rate only where the final customer has not provided a meter reading for a given billing interval;
(d)
where the final customer has a meter that allows remote reading by the operator, accurate billing information based on actual consumption shall be provided at least every month; such information may also be made available via the internet, and shall be updated as frequently as allowed by the measurement devices and systems used.
3.
Breakdown of the final customer's price
The customer's price is the sum of the following three components: the energy and supply component, the network component (transmission and distribution) and the component comprising taxes, levies, fees and charges.
Where a breakdown of the final customer's price is presented in bills, the common definitions of the three components in that breakdown established under Regulation (EU) 2016/1952 of the European Parliament and of the Council (15) shall be used throughout the Union.
4.
Access to complementary information on historical consumption
Member States shall require that, to the extent that complementary information on historical consumption is available, such information is made available, at the request of the final customer, to the supplier or service provider designated by the final customer.
Where the final customer has a meter that allows remote reading by the operator installed, the final customer shall have easy access to complementary information on historical consumption allowing detailed self-checks.
Complementary information on historical consumption shall include:
(a)
cumulative data for at least the three previous years or the period since the start of the electricity supply contract, if that period is shorter. The data shall correspond to the intervals for which frequent billing information has been produced; and
(b)
detailed data according to the time of use for any day, week, month and year, which is made available to the final customer without undue delay via the internet or the meter interface, covering the period of at least the previous 24 months or the period since the start of the electricity supply contract, if that period is shorter.
5.
Disclosure of energy sources
Suppliers shall specify in bills the contribution of each energy source to the electricity purchased by the final customer in accordance with the electricity supply contract (product level disclosure).
The following information shall be made available to final customers in, with, or signposted to within their bills and billing information:
(a)
the contribution of each energy source to the overall energy mix of the supplier (at national level, namely in the Member State in which the electricity supply contract has been concluded, as well as at the level of the supplier if the supplier is active in several Member States) over the preceding year in a comprehensible and clearly comparable manner;
(b)
information on the environmental impact, in at least terms of CO2 emissions and the radioactive waste resulting from the electricity produced by the overall energy mix of the supplier over the preceding year.
As regards point (a) of the second subparagraph, with respect to electricity obtained via an electricity exchange or imported from an undertaking situated outside the Union, aggregate figures provided by the exchange or the undertaking in question over the preceding year may be used.
For the disclosure of electricity from high efficiency cogeneration, guarantees of origin issued under Article 14(10) of Directive 2012/27/EU may be used. The disclosure of electricity from renewable sources shall be done by using guarantees of origin, except in the cases referred to in points (a) and (b) of Article 19(8) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001.
The regulatory authority or another competent national authority shall take the necessary steps to ensure that the information provided by suppliers to final customers pursuant to this point is reliable and is provided at a national level in a clearly comparable manner.
1.Member States shall ensure the deployment of smart metering systems in their territories that may be subject to an economic assessment of all of the long-term costs and benefits to the market and the individual consumer or which form of smart metering is economically reasonable and cost-effective and which time frame is feasible for their distribution.
2.Such assessment shall take into consideration the methodology for the cost-benefit analysis and the minimum functionalities for smart metering systems provided for in Commission Recommendation 2012/148/EU (16) as well as the best available techniques for ensuring the highest level of cybersecurity and data protection.
3.Subject to that assessment, Member States or, where a Member State has so provided, the designated competent authority, shall prepare a timetable with a target of up to ten years for the deployment of smart metering systems. Where the deployment of smart metering systems is assessed positively, at least 80 % of final customers shall be equipped with smart meters either within seven years of the date of the positive assessment or by 2024 for those Member States that have initiated the systematic deployment of smart metering systems before 4 July 2019.