1. Unit Gas and Electricity European Commission - DG Energy and Transport Customer Focus Group Helsinki, 11 - 10 - 2005 CUSTOMER ISSUES Patrick ROUSSEAUX Principal Administrator DG TREN

2. Unit Gas and Electricity European Commission - DG Energy and Transport Introduction Introduction Consumer protection New procedures and infrastructure Metering Stimulate market opening

3. Unit Gas and Electricity European Commission - DG Energy and Transport Supplier by default How appointed? Which obligations? Which price? Dispute settlement: how and who? Mediator of the Company: Independence? Nonspecialised instances? Role of the regulator? Resources of all the bodies? Delays? Consumer Protection ??

4. Unit Gas and Electricity European Commission - DG Energy and Transport Detailed and understandable contract Universal service No obligation to supply? Vulnerable consumers Quality indicators: norms and penalties Quality of service Customer switching one or more per year? Always at no cost? Consumer Protection ??

5. Unit Gas and Electricity European Commission - DG Energy and Transport New Procedures and IT Infrastructures 250 Million eligible consumers in EU Switching supplier Settlements OK in countries already 100% open? ready on 1/7/2007? Consumption data (metering and load profile) Confidentiality of sensitive data Same & non-discriminatory access to data for all suppliers

6. Unit Gas and Electricity European Commission - DG Energy and Transport Metering Metering independent from supply By DSO or independent company ? centralisation of data more compatibility easier customer switching & invoicing less errors & easier correction of errors Investment costs decreased Cautious if several metering companies

7. Unit Gas and Electricity European Commission - DG Energy and Transport Metering: AMR AMR -> AMM : More functionalities more precise and less consuming life cycle and reliability? maintenance costs? Economic viability for domestic customers ? Standardisation and open systems required Several technical solutions

8. Unit Gas and Electricity European Commission - DG Energy and Transport AMR: Market opening More functionalities for market opening easier customer switching more tariffs and tariffs periods real invoicing quality of supply: monitoring faults detection

9. Unit Gas and Electricity European Commission - DG Energy and Transport AMR: Energy efficiency and DSM Make the consumer sensitive to: consumption and cost CO2 emissions move peak consumption to off-peak More advanced data handling settlements better forecasts of consumption marketing analysis (but privacy?) Usable for domotic?

10. Unit Gas and Electricity European Commission - DG Energy and Transport Stimulate Market Opening at no cost Easy switching procedures at no cost (simple procedures, short delays) Common interfaces for IT Tools (EDI): easier for new entrants

11. Unit Gas and Electricity European Commission - DG Energy and Transport Metering Ownership of meters DSO, amortization costs included in the tariff Regulator monitors the savings of AMR

12. Unit Gas and Electricity European Commission - DG Energy and Transport Information to Stimulate Market Opening Information campaign at Market opening Pre-switching info always available on Web (Regulator?…) and call center Transparent information Fairness of incumbent Functional unbundling

13. Unit Gas and Electricity European Commission - DG Energy and Transport Conclusions: Improve Customer Switching ? INFORMATION Between actors For the consumer: DSO is not the supplier Prices comparison With efficient and standardised IT tools REGULATED TARIFFS ? SHORT and EASY PROCEDURES at No Costs NO BARRIERS for NEW ENTRANTS

14. Unit Gas and Electricity European Commission - DG Energy and Transport THANK YOU Patrick.Rousseaux@cec.eu.int tel 32 2 295 3868