Electricity and gas, the receipt with simplified costs arrives: this is what the future bill will look like
The Energy, Networks and Environment Authority launches a second consultation to arrive at a definition of how sellers should account for energy expenditure
by Celestina Dominelli
3' min read
Key points
3' min read
Arera is launching the second consultation, after an initial discussion with consumers and operators closed in recent months, in order to speed up Bill 2.0 with the aim of making users' bills more transparent and more comparable, especially in terms of costs, also in view of the end of the system of greater protection that, for the electricity market, will come into effect at the end of June with the transition to the gradual protection service. Interested parties will have until 10 May to submit comments and suggestions on the bill of the future. With the Authority intending to make the new rules operative within a year of the entry into force of the resolution with which the characteristics of the new bill will be designed.
The main chapters of the new bill
.The tools to ensure a better understanding of electricity and gas bills have already been disclosed in the previous consultation and are represented by the 'unified front page', which should ensure maximum uniformity of the main information so that users' bills are immediately comparable, and the so-called 'energy receipt' to clearly show the amounts that users have to pay and, for beneficiaries only, also the amount of the social bonus, the discount in the bill intended for families in economic or physical hardship.
The unified title page
.Compared to the previous document, Arera has introduced changes on the first side while confirming the mandatory nature of the unified front page as the first page of the bill. In particular, the Authority proposes a division between the unified front page proper, where only the amount to be paid is indicated, and the next page where, on the other hand, the billed amounts are shown according to the scheme of the energy receipt, together with a box dedicated to the offer, which will contain the information relating to the sales offer specifically signed by the customer and concretely applied in the bill.
> The unified front page
Key Information
.According to Arera's guideline, sellers should include a series of key information on the unified front page: from customer identification data to billing and payment data, from the total amount of the bill to the expiry date of the economic conditions applied in the offer for customers on the free market, so that, the document put out for consultation reads, 'it constitutes an early warning of the next change in these conditions'.
The energy receipt
.As for the receipt, which is on the second page of the bill, the logic is that of the full cost so as to show the overall cost of the service, distinguished between the consumption quota and the fixed quota (plus the power quota for the electricity sector), including in each quota all the expenditure items by destination. One of the objectives of the energy receipt, Arera explains, 'is to allow the end customer to understand how his consumption habits affect the total to be paid in the bill. In addition, the energy receipt responds to some of the indications of domestic consumers that emerged from the demographic survey conducted by the Authority: in particular, the importance of knowing and evaluating the details of consumption and the recurring use of the bill to monitor one's consumption habits'. Not only. The research also highlights the lack of clarity in the information on the amounts billed in the current bill and the preferences expressed for an increasing level of detail.
> The energy bill
