I’m sure you understand the theory: from October 1, 2015, those electricity users with the Voluntary Price for Small Consumers (PVPC) modality will be billed for the actual consumption they have made each hour. But… in practice?
September 2015 … this is the month
Although the new billing system will come into effect in October, it will refer to energy consumption made in September.
Only for subscribers with a meter with remote management
At the end of 2014, 10.2 million of these devices had been installed, out of the 11.9 million installed, and are now ready to measure our consumption remotely. There is a percentage of meters that are installed, but are not integrated, so they cannot offer hourly measurements.
Not all autonomous communities are making the same progress in terms of meter integration. Check yours in the following table.
Is this my case?
If you don’t know if the new billing method will apply to you, look for the last electricity bill you received and check what type of contract you have. If it’s PVPC with integrated remote-managed meter, that’s your case. If not, you will continue to be billed according to a standard consumption model.
If you don’t have a perfectly integrated remote-managed meter, don’t pay as if you did: complain!
If you have a telemetry meter installed but not integrated, you should pay the rental price of the equipment corresponding to the old meters (single-phase, €0.54 / month ITC Order / 3860/2007) and no more.
You have the right to know what data is obtained from the new meters. Have you been informed?
Order IET/290/2012 amending Order ITC/3860/2007 partially transposes Directive 2012/27/EU. Specifically, section 9.2 states the following:
“To the extent that Member States apply smart metering systems and deploy smart meters for natural gas and/or electricity in accordance with Directives 2009/72/CE and 2009/73/CE:
e) they will demand that appropriate advice and information be provided to customers at the time of the installation of smart meters, in particular about their full potential in relation to the management of meter readings and the monitoring of energy consumption.”
The Spanish transposition only talks about communicating with the user and not informing them, so we consider that we are facing an erroneous transposition of a legal text that we must highlight and demand the right of users to know the potential of these new measuring equipment and the functionalities of the telemetry and remote management systems.
Do you see beyond the meter’s viewfinder?
The same section of Directive 2012/27/EC details:
2. To the extent that Member States apply smart metering systems and deploy smart meters for natural gas and/or electricity in accordance with Directives 2009/72/CE and 2009/73/CE:
a) they will ensure that the measurement systems provide end customers with information on the exact time of use and that energy efficiency objectives and benefits to the end customer are fully taken into account when establishing the minimum functions of the meters and the obligations imposed on market agents;
Those of you who have experienced the thrill of having a remotely managed meter installed will have seen that you can only access the meter information through the viewer. Meters allow you to obtain many other data and it is required that the user can also access this information, guaranteeing user-measuring equipment communication as it happens in the rest of the Member States. Users must demand access to this information, either through a website or through other electronic devices.
As users, we are responsible for installing the new remotely managed electricity meters, but we must also demand that our rights be protected. For this reason, we must denounce, claim, demand and challenge all measures that leave us in a situation of lack of protection.
More information:
- Report requested by the Secretary of State for Energy on the current state of compliance with EU regulations of the meter replacement plan. CNMC, 22 April 2014. https://www.cnmc.es/sites/default/files/1514213_10.pdf
- Report on the fulfillment of the first milestone of the meter replacement plan. CNMC. 2019. https://www.cnmc.es/sites/default/files/2520102_3.pdf
