Coordinator for negotiations to the President of the EROE Report for 2020 - Reports -

Implementing the obligation of the Coordinator for negotiations to the President of the Energy Regulatory Office (hereinafter referred to as the Coordinator) resulting from art. 11 sec. 1 of the Act of September 23rd, 2016 on Out-of-court resolution of consumer disputes (Journal of Laws of 2016, item 1823), I hereby inform that:

1. In 2020, 345 cases were presented to the Coordinator, of which the criteria meeting cases for qualifying the consumer's letter as a motion and initiating the proceedings based on it were 212. 
   Over 88% (188 out of 212) applications arose from the electricity market, and almost 12% (24 out of 212) from the gaseous fuel market.
   In both cases, the most frequent subject of dispute were issues related to accounting with an energy company or the consumer being misled when signing a contract with an energy company.
2. Recurring and also important problem in the relations between consumers and energy companies, constituting frequent hotbeds of disputes were the issues of misleading the consumer when signing a contract.
   A dispute arising from the above mentioned reason can be avoided throughout carefully examining the agreement to be signed, above all by verifying the parties names, as well as a meticulous review of the terms of trade and duration. It is also recommended to verify in detail the authorization and identity of a person handling the contract to be signed.
3. The Coordinator rejected to handle the dispute in 10 cases, which constitutes not quite 3% (10 out of 345) of all disputes lodged in 2020. In somewhat over 10%   (1 out of 10) of cases, the rejection had been dictated by non-compliance with the objective criteria, whereas in 90% (9 out of 10) of cases by failure to meet the subjective criteria.
4. Less than 31% (65 out of 212) of the proceedings initiated in 2020 were closed before reaching results, due to the energy company’s lack of consent to participate in the proceeding. The Parties came to an agreement in 34 proceedings, which constitutes more than 24% (34 out of 141) of the proceedings substantively conducted by the Coordinator in 2020.
5. The average duration of proceedings concluded by the protocol in 2020 was 57 days. It should be emphasized that in the period from March 14, 2020 to May 23, 2020, the duration of the proceedings was suspended, while the proceedings were conducted continuously thanks to the efficient organization of remote work and the involvement of members of the Coordinator's Service Team.
6. The Coordinator does not perform analyses of the percentage share of cases, in which the parties have complied with the outcome of the out-of-court resolution of consumer disputes, in relation to the number of proceedings initiated.
7. The Coordinator is a full member and president of NEON - National Energy Ombudsmen Network, an international association seated in Brussels, Belgium, that associates entities are conducting out-of-court proceedings for resolving consumer disputes and facilitating the cross-border dispute resolutions.