site.btaRegulator Orders Electricity Distributors to Compensate Households Hit by Outages at End-2024

The Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) announced on Wednesday that the three electricity distribution companies, Electrodistribution Grid West EAD, Electrodistribution North AD, Elektrorazpredelenie Yug [Electrodistribution South] EAD, have seven days to determine the amount of the penalty due to their residential customers who were left without electricity supply for more than 24 hours between December 21 and 31, 2024. The companies will have to pay penalties to all affected households except those with zero consumption for the last 13 months and customers with interrupted electricity supply due to unpaid debts or misappropriation of electricity.

Within one more week, distribution companies must make payments to the supply companies, which will deduct the amount of the penalty from the total value of the invoices of their eligible customers. Customers have the right to request payment via bank transfer too.

These mandatory penalties were adopted based on the findings of the extraordinary inspections carried out on the three companies to ensure that they comply with the conditions of their electricity distribution licences. The inspections were ordered after numerous media reports of prolonged power outages in a number of localities across the country, affecting thousands of households.

The inspections established that the outages were caused largely by the poor technical condition of the energy facilities and the insufficient readiness of the companies to operate in winter conditions. The EWRC said that while the companies had provided sufficient technical resources and emergency teams in the severe winter conditions, they had underestimated the severity of the initial stage of the situation.

To avoid future problems of the same nature caused by adverse weather conditions, the Commission requested from the electricity distribution companies to submit status reports of the overhead power lines within three months.