Czech energy regulator warns against unauthorized energy price hikes as complaints rise

The Energy Regulatory Office (ERÚ) has recorded a rise in consumer complaints about energy suppliers’ unauthorized price increases. The office says suppliers often circumvent their legal obligations by limiting the validity of agreed price lists or raising prices when contracts are automatically renewed, without complying with notification rules. ERÚ reported this today. It advises consumers to challenge such changes as ineffective.

The office has pointed out that when changing prices, suppliers must notify customers of any unilateral price adjustment, if permitted by the contract, at least thirty days in advance, in a verifiable and individual manner.

ERÚ has selected several illustrative cases in which suppliers’ unlawful conduct is apparent. The first concerns limiting the validity of a price list. In this case, a customer enters into a fixed-term contract believing they have agreed a fixed price for the entire duration of the contract. However, the price is agreed only for part of the contract term, for example, until the end of the first year. After that, it is set to change in line with the supplier’s current price list. ERÚ Council member Ladislav Havel, however, pointed out that in such cases the new price would have to be agreed directly in the contract. „If that is not the case, it is merely a supplier’s trick,“ Havel added.

Other common cases recorded by the office involve price increases when a contract is automatically renewed. A customer enters into a fixed-term contract stipulating that if they do not notify the supplier before the contract expires that they wish to terminate the agreement, it will be automatically renewed under the terms the supplier has published on its website before the renewal. According to ERÚ Council member Markéta Zemanová, this approach is possible, but only if both parties agree to it in the contract and the supplier notifies the customer in a specific manner. „A general, ambiguous reference is not enough,“ Zemanová said.

For such cases, ERÚ advises consumers to review contract terms carefully and, if necessary, act in good time to terminate the contract. If a supplier fails to meet certain conditions, customers should, according to the office, argue that the contract amendment is ineffective.

The Energy Regulatory Office handled 3857 submissions during the first quarter of this year. The number of submissions in the same period last year was more than twice as high. Compared with the previous quarter, the number has so far fallen by almost a quarter this year. In half of this year’s cases, consumer complaints concerned energy bills. The number of out-of-court consumer dispute resolutions, by contrast, rose significantly. The office handled 22.198 submissions over the whole of last year.