New regulations from EMRA: Changes in electricity consumer services

The Regulation on Amending the Electricity Market Consumer Services Regulation by the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) has been published in the Official Gazette. Accordingly, the phrases "low consumption" in the regulation have been replaced with "annual consumption of less than 100,000 kilowatt-hours." The definition of a low-consumption eligible consumer was previously used for eligible consumers with an annual electricity consumption of less than 100,000 kilowatt-hours. With this amendment, this definition has been removed from the regulation.

PLATFORM FOR BILATERAL AGREEMENTS WITH SUPPLIERS

Under the regulation, eligible consumers were able to procure their electricity energy and/or capacity purchases by entering into bilateral agreements with suppliers.

With the new regulation, a platform will be established that allows consumers to review and compare bilateral agreement offers presented by suppliers and to enter into bilateral agreements with them. The platform will be established and operated by Energy Markets Operation Inc. (EPİAŞ).

In the event that an offer is made to the said platform by suppliers, a bilateral agreement will be established upon the acceptance of this offer by the relevant consumers.

REGULATION ON THE ESTABLISHMENT PROCESS OF RETAIL SALES CONTRACTS

An amendment was also made to Article 22 of the same regulation regarding retail sales contracts.

According to the article, which has been renamed "Establishment of a retail sales contract," a retail sales contract can be established in writing or remotely.

A retail sales contract intended to be established in writing will be formed by signing the Contract Establishment Form included in the annex of the contract, either by hand or with a secure electronic signature. A copy of the form will be provided to the relevant consumer on paper or via a permanent data storage device on the day the contract is established. If the consumer requests, the contract will be established upon the presentation and signing of the entire document by the consumer.

The contract sample and its annexes will be sent via e-mail or via text message to be viewed throughout the contract period, depending on the consumer's request. The relevant contract and its annexes will be stored with a time stamp provided by the TÜBİTAK Public Certification Center.

The authorized supply company will notify the distribution company on the same day by recording the established contracts. The burden of proof regarding the establishment of the contract will belong to the authorized supply company.

REGULATIONS REGARDING SECURITY DEPOSITS

Changes were also made to the calculation of the security deposit. The phrase "consumer who signs a contract with the authorized supply company" has been changed to "within the scope of the retail sales contract." Accordingly, the security deposit within the scope of the retail sales contract will be calculated based on the unit price determined per kilowatt for consumer groups, taking into account the power of the facility or the place of use.

Furthermore, according to the newly added regulation, if the consumer is a high-consumption consumer within the scope of the last resort supply tariff, the relevant unit prices in the month the retail sales contract is established will be taken as the basis. The regulation maintains the principle that the entire security deposit to be paid in cash must be paid in advance.

However, upon the consumer's request, the security deposit can be collected in two equal monthly installments for consumers in the residential consumer group, as well as for universities, municipalities, and irrigation cooperatives in the public and private services sector and other consumer groups, and for other consumer groups, the first installment can be paid in advance and the second installment can be collected at least 30 days later. The authorized supply company will be obliged to ask the consumer whether they have an installment request in this context.

With the new regulation, a security deposit will not be collected from consumers who have paid all their bills for the last 24-month period by the due date for each residential usage location, provided that their supplier and consumer group remain the same, who change their usage location or enter into a new residential retail sales contract at a different usage location while their existing contract is still ongoing, and who have not engaged in illegal electricity consumption during this period.

Additionally, in accordance with the Decision on Providing Electricity Consumption Support to Households in Need, which was put into effect by the Presidential Decree dated 27/2/2019 and numbered 795, no security deposit will be required for retail sales contracts made on behalf of beneficiaries for households that have been granted eligibility to receive monthly or regular social assistance under the Law on Encouraging Social Assistance and Solidarity dated 29/5/1986 and numbered 3294, and the Law on Granting Monthly Salaries to Needy, Powerless, and Lonely Turkish Citizens Over the Age of 65 dated 1/7/1976 and numbered 2022.

NEW METHOD FOR DETECTING ILLEGAL ELECTRICITY

With the amendment, information provided by network/infrastructure organizations such as water, natural gas, and internet can be used for illegal electricity detection and accrual procedures.

The meter at the usage location of a consumer found to have repeatedly consumed illegal electricity may be replaced with a meter containing a disconnection system that prevents external intervention by the consumer, or technological methods that prevent the connection of electricity by the consumer may be applied.

Furthermore, in cases where entry to the field for illegal electricity detection is prevented and the relevant situation is recorded with a photo or video containing date and location information, technological facilities such as remote reading and monitoring systems used in the distribution network can be used for illegal detection and accrual procedures. In this case, when a detection is made in the field, the necessary corrections can be made by the distribution company.