In recent months, the Consumer Disputes Board has mediated several cases where the consumer has entered into a fixed-term electricity contract at a very high price.
Consumer Disputes Board points out the prices of electricity companies’ fixed-term electricity contracts, which, according to the board, have been unreasonable in some cases.
In recent months, the Consumer Disputes Board has issued several solutions regarding the price mediation of a fixed-term electricity contract, it says in its press release on Saturday. They have concerned situations where, in the fall of 2022, the consumer has entered into a fixed-term electricity contract at a very high price.
The board estimates that there are at least tens of thousands of situations like this. Recently, thousands of people have received a payment default notice for unpaid electricity bills, the board states.
Last in the summer, the Consumer Disputes Board outlined the limits of unreasonableness in electricity contracts, when the prices of fixed-term electricity contracts had dropped significantly from the end of 2022. According to the board, “the fixed price of the contract can be unreasonable if it is more than 15 percent higher and at the same time more than 150 euros more than the average price of similar offered contracts during the contract”.
In the cases resolved by the board regarding the high price of the electricity contract, the agreed prices have been 25–30 cents per kilowatt hour. The annual electricity bill has thus been thousands of euros.
“Consumers have paid a significantly higher price for their electricity than what was requested from similar contracts a little later during the validity of the contracts. Consumers have demanded that the price be reasonable or that the contract be terminated,” the Consumer Disputes Board states in its announcement.
The incomes of the consumers in question have not been exceptionally large or small, and the electricity has mainly been used to heat the apartment, the board says.
Cases the price has mostly changed to around 20 cents per kilowatt-hour during mediation.
“Even after mediation, consumers who made an expensive contract have to pay a high price compared to other consumers. When the companies have failed to comply with the board’s recommendations, the risk of a sudden drop in prices has been left entirely to the consumers,” chairman of the board Pauli Ståhlberg states in the announcement.
The Consumer Disputes Board points out that electricity sellers have better opportunities than consumers to assess the development of electricity prices in advance. This is despite the fact that the price development has been unexpected and exceptional due to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
The board has urged consumers of resolved cases to contact the consumer ombudsman so that the matter can also be resolved in court. If the matter ends up in the Supreme Court, the decision may apply to all temporary fixed-price electricity contracts concluded in the fall of 2022, the board says in a press release.