Tina Bru has called for a dishwashing meeting – E24

Last week, it emerged that the Consumer Council believes they have uncovered a major price hoax at 29 power companies and have complained about the companies to the Norwegian Consumer Agency.

The Consumer Council believes that companies are adding a secret supplement in addition to the usual price supplements in electricity purchase price agreements.

– I think it should be easy to know how much energy costs and to compare different agreements. So I take it very seriously that the Consumer Council believes that consumers are being misled, says Oil and Energy Minister Tina Bru (H) in a reply to Ruth Grung of the Labor Party.

Bru says in response that the purpose of competition in the electricity end-user market is that it will benefit customers.

– In Norway, energy providers have great freedom to design their agreements. The freedom of contract will allow electricity companies to offer various types of agreements, and consumers can choose the most favorable agreement for them, it says in the response.

– It must not lead to misleading customers, says the Minister of Energy.

Meeting to wash dishes on Monday

Bru takes the price fraud allegations into his own hands and has invited the Consumer Council and Energy Norway to a meeting on Monday with the Minister of Children and Families Kjell Ingolf Ropstad (KrF).

– I hope that Monday’s meeting will lead to comments on how the regulations can be improved, says MP Ruth Grung (Labor), who asked the Energy Minister the question.

Grung boasts of Brus’ handling of the allegations against the power companies.

– Usually Bru talks about porridge in questions. Now he responds accurately and shows that he is serious. It looks like she will prioritize this in the future, she says.

– You cannot have a situation without total transparency

Knut Kroepelien, CEO of Energi Norge, says the industry association takes the Consumer Council complaint very seriously.

– We review the complaint carefully and it is important that our members review their agreements with clients. We cannot have a situation without full transparency. It must be pretty obvious for what you pay, says Kroepelien.

Welcome Energy Minister Brus to the meeting.

– I hope we have a good exchange of views on the electricity market and get an account of our solutions. We believe, among other things, that certification and industry standards for power companies will make the market more transparent, says Koerpelien.

Certification scheme on stairs.

Together with Distriktenergi, Energi Norge is developing the certification scheme “Safe electricity trading” for players in the electricity industry. Certification is basically voluntary.

– It is a certification that we believe can give more transparency to the market. It must first be fully developed, then it must be followed by DNV GL. Eventually, we anticipate that certification will be an industry standard that we expect our members to follow, says Koerpelien.

Grung from the Labor Party wants certification to be mandatory for membership in Energy Norway.

– A passive certification scheme is too passive. If I were Energy Norway, I would introduce a mandatory provision. It’s strange with voluntary plans for something as important as electricity, says Grung.

On the table of the Consumer Agency

The Consumer Council complaint will be processed by the Norwegian Consumer Agency.

– For players who have received such harsh accusations against them, it is important to clarify soon. We could have wished for a clearer clarification of the scope of the complaint. Our review so far shows that there are fewer companies and smaller quantities than the Consumer Council has stated, Kroepelien says.

– Our review shows that the margin in trading costs amounts to between 50 and 200 NOK for one year. That’s less than 1 percent of a regular household electric bill, he says.

Hired Oslo Economics

On behalf of the Swedish Regulatory Authority (RME), consultancy Oslo Economics is now working on a report on the main challenges in the retail electricity market.

According to the plan, the plan must be completed before the end of the year.

– We have always believed that we have good regulations with total transparency, but when the Consumer Council sees that such a large proportion of customers feel cheated, something is wrong. The report will be able to provide an answer on whether the market is sufficiently regulated, says Grung.