Electricity customers in Montenegro to get EUR 20-200 for poor supplier, system operator service

From August 8, customers in Montenegro will receive financial compensation of EUR 20-200 in situations when the minimum quality of electricity supply is not met, the Energy Regulatory Agency (RAE) of Montenegro has said on its website.

Customers may file complaints about events occurring from August 8, within 30 days of the event which resulted in the supplier’s or system operator’s failure to meet the minimum quality of electricity supply in the rulebook on the minimum quality of the electricity supply.

A customer is to file a complaint to its supplier, which is, in this case, public power utility Elektroprivreda Crne Gore (EPCG), provided the customer has not signed a contract with another supplier.

A supplier’s or operator’s failure to meet the minimum quality defined by the rulebook will result in the financial compensation of EUR 20 for customers connected to the distribution system – which are mainly households – and EUR 200 for customers connected to the transmission system, the RAE said.

The mechanism of financial compensation should not be mixed with compensation of damage which the system operator must pay to the customer in case of damage made to household appliances or other damage that may be caused by the operator.

The complaint can be filed for the failure to meet the minimum quality prescribed by the rulebook, which refers to the time in which the system operator must restore power supply in situations of power outage, but also the deadlines that must be met in announcing planned power outages, issuing an approval for connection or for the reconnection of a customer, replying to the reported meter malfunction, visiting the customer’s household, replying to the reported voltage deviation and its elimination. Also, it refers to deadlines that have to be met by suppliers for replying to requests for verification of billing, requests for financial compensation, requests for reconnection, and requests for meter control.

The supplier is obliged to decide on the customer’s complaint within 15 days, and if the customer is not satisfied with the supplier’s reply, it can file a complaint with the RAE.