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“Currently, the bill establishes that the price comparison calculator would be created by the State Energy Regulatory Council,” said the deputy minister at the meeting of the Seimas Economic Committee.
“We hope to have that price calculator … to give more clarity to consumers,” he added.
According to I.Žilienė, this would make it possible to make competition from independent electricity providers even more active.
Sigismund Gedvila / 15 minute photo / Inga Žilienė
Lithuania’s electricity market for domestic consumers has been liberalized since last year. Under the law, all residents of the country will have to choose their electricity supplier in three stages by the end of 2022.
Currently, eight electricity providers compete for Lithuanian hearts.
Renatas Pocius, president of the State Energy Regulatory Council (VERT), said that the calculator to compare the offers of the suppliers is expected to be operational from September.
Photo by Irmantas Gelūnas / 15min photo / VERT President Renatas Pocius
According to him, after entering his data on the website of the board, the consumer will be able to get the most suitable price offer.
The Deputy Minister of Energy also said that the bill is planned to open consumer data to all providers in order to level the playing field for companies in the competitive fight with the public provider Ignitis.
Arno Strumila / 15min photo / “Grupo Ignitis”
“Currently, the ministry is preparing a project to open all consumer data to independent providers,” said I. Žilienė.
According to her, this data would be stored in reliable databases and the user could avoid using their data in this way.
According to the vice minister, the decision to open the data would make it possible to say that “all independent providers are on the same starting line.”
VERT president R.Pocius also said that opening up consumer data to providers is “one of the key aspects of liberalization.”
I.Žilienė stated that the bill will also require a supplier with more than 200 thousand. consumers, to offer a dynamic rate, linking it to electricity prices on the stock market.
Photo by Rokas Lukoševičius / 15min / Electric cables
According to her, such an initiative arose after considering that consumers have particularly favorable night rates in the stock market and, with this in mind, they could shift part of their consumption to the night.
Learn from mistakes
In preparation for the second round of selection of electricity providers this year, institutions are learning from the mistakes made during the first.
I think there were both misunderstandings, and there was a lot of spam, and there was aggressive action, there was very little price comparison.
The second and most abundant stage for customers foresees that the supplier must choose a supplier by December 2021 for households that consume between 1 and 5 thousand. kilowatt hours of electricity per year.
Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys told the committee that he assessed last year’s first stage as mediocre.
“I think there were misunderstandings, there was a lot of spam and there was aggressive action, there was very little price comparison,” said the politician.
Photo by Arno Strumila / 15min / Dainius Kreivys
According to him, the ministry, together with the state regulator, will try to address some 20 issues this year to improve the market liberalization process.
“The first important decision is that the process should start much earlier, maybe even in May,” said D. Kreivys.
According to R. Pocius, president of VERT, during the first stage of choosing electricity providers, the problem was seen that contracts with consumers are simply concluded by phone, without them even realizing it.
About one of those situations I recently wrote and 15 minutes, the text can be read here.
According to R.Pocius, such contracts are considered illegal and VERT resolves similar disputes in favor of the consumer.
Photo by Irmantas Gelūnas / 15min photo / VERT President Renatas Pocius
He said that in 2021, the authority received 56 complaints related to the liberalization of the electricity market.
“The main problem is that the issues raised by consumers are not resolved at the provider level and reach the regulator or other authorities.
As we can see, the competence of the consultants must be strengthened until today, it is not enough and the consultants cannot solve the problem on the spot, ”said R. Pocius.
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