Because of ignoring the requests placed by residential consumers, in the context of the electricity market liberalization, the National Regulatory Authority for E-nergy (ANRE) has fined four big electricity suppliers – state-owned Hidroelectrica and Electrica and the local subsidiaries of E.ON and Enel.
The four companies breached the legal requirement to respond to the potential customers’ requests within 15 working days by sending the documents to be signed for closing new contracts on the free market. Each of the companies will pay a fine of around 80,000 euros, which is an insignificant figure compared to their turnover and the impact of their actions.
As of 1 January 2021, residential consumers have been charged abnormally high electricity prices under a universal service fee by the incumbent suppliers (consumers which have not signed new contracts on the free market are supplied by their incumbent suppliers), including three of the four fined companies: E.ON, Enel Energie, Enel Energie Muntenia, and Electrica Furnizare.
