The Oslo District Court states that NorgesEnergi, Fortum Strøm and Fortum Markets must terminate a type of electricity agreement that the Regulatory Authority for Energy considers to be illegal.
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In addition, they must pay 109,200 kroner in legal costs, reports VG.
According to the newspaper, the agreements are that the customer pays the same amount every month to avoid surprises. Customers pay two invoices each month: one that states how much is paid into a customer account, and one that applies to electricity consumption and what the electricity has cost, and any grid rent. The latter invoice is deducted from this customer account.
RME, which is subject to the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), believes that such agreements are not in line with the regulations for invoicing electricity.
According to the legislation, measurement, settlement and invoicing shall take place on the basis of the measured consumption. That is not what these agreements do. We have informed several companies to terminate electricity agreements that violate the regulations, NVE CEO Kjetil Lund told E24 in November.
The Consumer Council has also commented critically on the agreements, but Fortum and the others disagreed and took the case to court, where they lost. The companies have not yet responded to VG’s inquiries.
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