Greek electricity suppliers are set to gain broader powers to prevent customers with repeated payment defaults from switching providers as authorities seek to tackle unpaid power bills estimated at around €3 billion.
Roughly half of the outstanding debt is associated with consumers who have changed suppliers, creating growing concern that customers can leave unpaid balances behind when moving between companies.
Under revisions to the Electricity Supply Code, switching may be blocked where a disconnection order for non-payment is already active or where a consumer has delinquency records submitted by at least three suppliers.
A dedicated database will be created to record repeated payment problems. Suppliers will also be allowed to reject some prospective customers with outstanding debts or repeated disconnection proceedings.
Consumers will retain procedural protections. One unpaid bill alone will not be sufficient for registration.
After a second payment deadline is missed, suppliers will have to contact the consumer, issue a reminder and offer instalment arrangements. Only where the customer rejects such an arrangement or later breaches it can the supplier proceed with a delinquency registration and meter-disconnection order.
Restrictions must be removed once the debt is settled or a formal repayment agreement is reached.
The framework also covers consumers who successfully change supplier but subsequently fail to pay their final bill to their previous provider.
