Electric|If you buy an electricity contract via telephone sales, it must now be approved in writing. This is one new, updated condition that comes into the making of electricity contracts.
For electricity contracts new standard contract terms are coming.
Simply put, they are pre-drafted terms that are used repeatedly in similar contracts. The Energy Industry representing electricity companies updated the terms after consulting with the consumer representative.
The terms apply to the sale and supply of electricity and electricity network services. With the average consumer in mind, the terms clearly outline how many things can be handled online.
“Electricity is a necessary commodity for consumers. That is why it is important that the standard contract terms for electricity protect the consumer’s position in situations of changes to the contract, both in stable and energy market transition situations,” says the consumer advocate Katri Väänänen the Competition and Consumer Agency in the bulletin.
Electric companies can henceforth upload important documents to their electronic transaction service, which the customer can access by logging in. However, in order for the customer to detect the messages, the company must notify them by e-mail or text message, for example.
On the other hand, consumers always have the right to free paper transactions. The company must inform the customer about this “clearly and comprehensibly”.
The terms and conditions specify the basic requirements for customer service, based on which the consumer must receive customer service “within a reasonable time and via multiple channels”. If the contract or prices are changed, the customer should be clearly informed about the contents and reasons for the change.
To the conditions a mention was added that the consumer must prove that he is moving if he terminates the fixed-term contract based on the move.
In addition, it was written into the terms and conditions that the contract made through telephone sales must be confirmed in writing afterwards, but for that a text message is enough.
Mentions about the electricity company’s possibility to use pre-invoicing as a general payment method for its consumer contracts were removed from the terms. A deposit or an advance payment can only be collected from the consumer for case-specific, very pressing reasons related to the consumer himself.
Updated the conditions will come into effect gradually from the beginning of December. The companies communicate the changes to their customers, and letters have already arrived in many homes.
In fixed-term contracts, on the other hand, the terms come into force when the customer’s contract ends and he signs a new one.
The electricity sales terms were last updated in 2014, and the electricity supply terms and network service terms in 2019.