Energy: The Energy Ombudsman is coming – how it will work and what consumers need to know

With the aim of better preparing consumers to deal with any potential dispute with their suppliers in the energy market, RAAEF is preparing another tool, the Energy Ombudsman, which it will introduce next week. The Energy Ombudsman is part of a series of measures taken by the Department of Energy and ERAEF to increase market transparency and increase the protection of households and businesses.

What has been the situation up until today?

Until now, the only recourse for consumers if they were in disagreement with their suppliers and did not want to get into a legal dispute, was to lodge complaints and grievances with the Financial Services Authority and consumer associations. Especially in the energy crisis, there were a lot of complaints to the RAAEF about electricity bill charges, and since they were so many it was not easy to answer them all.

The role of the Energy Ombudsman is to intervene effectively, quickly and free of charge to resolve civil disputes between consumers and suppliers, while RAE is registered in the Special Register of Alternative Dispute Resolution Bodies of the Ministry of Development.

How will it work?

Complaints of a civil nature will be registered by consumers on the complaints filing platform myrae.gr. From there it will be passed on to suppliers. After three “cycles” of responses from suppliers, if consumers who have provided them still consider themselves dissatisfied, they will be able to turn to the Energy Ombudsman. Conversely, for matters relating to procurement law, the option available to consumers is to lodge a complaint with the Financial Services Authority.

For the Ministry of Energy, one of its priorities is consumer empowerment towards supply companies, and it is taking a series of measures so as not to be at a disadvantage towards them.

Empowered consumer

In this context, “color marking” was placed on the electricity tariff so that the differences between the tariffs could be easily distinguished. For a better and easier comparison, the Comparative Prices Table has been followed, and now there are two additional RAAE measures to strengthen the rights of energy consumers.

Therefore, the launch of the Energy Ombudsman service is just around the corner, as the Regulatory Authority has scheduled a media conference for this purpose next Monday, January 15, with all suppliers and operators.

The goal is to be able to resolve disputes of a civil nature, without consumers having to go to court and sacrifice time and money. The next step will be to revamp the price comparison tool (Energy Cost), which will include the new electricity tariffs expected in February.

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