Summary of changes to the agreement terms and conditions

Terms of Electricity Sales SME2024

The terminology used throughout the terms has been harmonised with the other conditions and the amended Electricity Market Act. In addition, the legal references have been updated and references to statutory provisions have been replaced by general references to legislation.

1. General information, concluding a sales agreement, conditions for and starting electricity sales, relationship with the network service, liability issues

Section 1.2. has been removed due to an increase in small-scale production.
Definitions for imbalance settlement period (1.10.) and independent aggregator (1.15.) have been added and terminology e.g. for connection point and telemetering equipment has bene updated. The change of the imbalance settlement period from one hour to fifteen minutes has been taken into consideration.
Any product price list attached to the agreement may be presented electronically on the seller's website or other separately agreed place. Under the existing conditions, there is no need to include a product price list at all if the pricing basis has been agreed separately in the individual conditions. If there is a need to include a product price list in the agreement, it is sufficient to include a link to the current product price list.
In addition to this, service price lists have been completely separated from the agreement. In the future, it will be sufficient to add a link to the agreement confirmation, through which the customer can find the current service price list. (1.16., 2.4.1. and 2.4.3.)
E-commerce has been promoted by making it possible to send agreement confirmations and price and term change notifications to the customer primarily electronically and, at the consumer's request, free of charge on paper going forward. The user must be informed of the existence of the notification in the e-service and of the main content of the notification by a pre-agreed means, for example by email or SMS. In addition to this, the seller must inform the consumer clearly and understandably about the right to paper transactions before the agreement is concluded. (1.17. and 8.8.)
The reference to compliance with the Electricity Market Act has been deleted. (1.21.)

2. Concluding a sales agreement, other agreements concerning the user’s electricity purchasing, commencing the sale of electricity

The requirement of the Electricity Market Act for electricity sales and network service agreements to have identical names has been taken into account. (2.3.)
The reference to the binding nature of the electronic agreement has been removed. (2.4.2.)
The requirement that the consumer be provided information about the energy consumer checklist and the website address of the Energy Authority, where the checklist is available, in addition to the agreement or agreement confirmation, was removed due to the amendment to the Act. (2.4.1. and 2.4.3.)
Section 2.4.3. was updated to include the possibility to send the agreement confirmation electronically without a separate agreement in accordance with section 1.17. The agreement confirmation must be sent either to the address of the location of use, to another address indicated by the user or to another agreed channel of communication. In addition to this, it has been clarified what is meant by the comment period under the Electricity Market Act. (2.4.3.)
The outline of the distance selling confirmation procedure under chapter 6, section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act has been added and the customer having no right to object under the Electricity Market Act if the consumer has accepted the distance selling offer by means of a confirmation has been mentioned. (2.4.4. and 2.4.5.)
The section on restrictions on changing products not applying to fixed-term agreements has been clarified. (2.7.)
New customer service providers, i.e. independent aggregators, have been taken into account in line with electricity market legislation. The customer may also agree on electricity usage controls with an independent aggregator, and the open supplier must be informed. (2.9.1. and 2.10.)

3. Security and advance payment

Due to the prohibition of advance billing under the Electricity Market Act, section 3.12., which would allow advance billing by consumers, has been deleted as unlawful. In addition to this, section 3.11. has been clarified.

4. The DSO’s rights and obligations concerning electricity sales and issues related to network service

The user’s obligation to immediately report any faults or malfunctions that they detect has been clarified. (4.2.)

5. Delay, fault and liability issues

The consumer's right to compensation for damage caused to a family member applying to those living in the same place of use has been clarified. (5.11.)

6. Invoicing and payments

The seller's billing terms and conditions have been updated to reflect new legislation and practices applied during the use of the data hub. (6.1.1.)
The definition of measurement error has been clarified (6.6., 6.6.4., 6.5. and 6.6.5.)

8. Changing the terms of agreement and prices

The criteria for price and condition changes has been modified in line with the interpretations of the authorities and case law. (8.5.)
Section 8.8. has been amended as described above, taking into account and agreeing on the different types of service transactions.

10. Expiration of the sale agreement

Added in clause 10.2.4. that the user, when terminating a fixed-term agreement, is obliged, at the request of the seller, to provide proof that the move has taken place. (10.2.4.)
The language of the agreement for the supply of delivery obligation products has been clarified and harmonised. (10.4.3.)
For the sake of clarity, the terms of termination of the agreement take into account international mandatory sanctions. In the future, immediate termination of the sales agreement will be possible at the seller's discretion if the user is subject to international sanctions imposed by law or a public authority. In addition, the seller has the right to claim compensation for damage caused by the termination. (10.7.)
The user's 15-day (and the consumer's 30-day) right to terminate a continuous agreement following a change in price or conditions will be calculated from the date of sending the revision notice. A sentence that caused confusion, stating that the user has no right to terminate a fixed-term agreement, has also been deleted. (10.10.)

11. Customer service and dispute resolution

A new section (11.1.) on basic principles of accessibility of customer service in line with the guidelines issued by the consumer authority has been added. The consumer has the right to receive customer service from the seller within a reasonable time through various channels. (11.1.)
Consumer customers were instructed to contact us before submitting a request for resolution to the Consumer Disputes Board. (11.2.)
A statutory right for business customers to refer disputes concerning the agreement to the Energy Market Authority has been added. (11.3.)