The National Energy Regulatory Authority published for consultation the draft order for the approval of the Framework Procedure regarding the obligation of electricity and natural gas suppliers to resolve complaints of end customers, according to Agerpres.
“The draft order submitted for public consultation mainly introduces provisions regarding: the stages of the process, respectively the prerequisites for resolving and registering complaints received from end customers; resolving and informing end customers regarding the method of resolving complaints received from them; the possibility of reporting complaints received from end customers online, through a platform made available on the ANRE website, thus aiming at the digitalization and automation of this process; until the development of this platform, suppliers will send the complaint report to ANRE by e-mail; a mechanism for classifying electricity/natural gas suppliers according to the level of end customer complaints addressed to ANRE, respectively complaints addressed to suppliers, which provides for the determination of the customer satisfaction index for each supplier and the assignment of a color according to its value, which will lead to better customer information and increase competition on the retail energy market, as customers will be stimulated to migrate to suppliers with a high degree of ISC”, it is mentioned in the draft approval report.
The Draft Order, which enters into force on October 1, 2026, provides that for the period July 1 – September 30, 2026, electricity and natural gas suppliers shall keep records of complaints received from end customers in accordance with the provisions of the Framework Procedure. Reports on complaints shall be submitted to ANRE by October 31, 2026.
The Framework Procedure on the obligation of electricity and natural gas suppliers to resolve end customer complaints aims to strengthen consumer protection and increase transparency in the energy market.
“In the context of a competitive retail energy market, the number of complaints filed by end customers is increasing, so it is necessary to develop mechanisms that allow for the comparative evaluation of the performance of suppliers in relation to consumers. In this regard, the project introduces a satisfaction index of end customers and a color classification system of suppliers, depending on the number of complaints and the way they are resolved”, the approval report emphasizes.
According to art. 62 para. (1) let. h6) of Law no. 123/2012, electricity suppliers are obliged to resolve end customer complaints in accordance with the regulations issued by ANRE. Thus, end electricity customers have the following rights: to benefit from transparent, simple and inexpensive procedures for resolving complaints; are entitled to a high standard of service provision and complaint resolution by the supplier and, where applicable, the licensed operators who conclude contracts with final electricity customers.
In application of the legal provisions, ANRE has developed the Framework Procedure on the obligation of electricity and natural gas suppliers to resolve final customer complaints, which establishes a unitary mechanism for receiving, registering, analyzing and resolving complaints made by final customers, and which allows for the comparative assessment of the performance of suppliers in relation to consumers. The procedure aims to ensure a transparent framework and a high standard of complaint resolution.
“The need to update the regulatory framework results from the need to update the terms used as well as the development of additional tools to inform customers regarding the supply activity. In this context, the project also introduces the final customer satisfaction index and the classification of suppliers by color, depending on the number of complaints and the way they are resolved, information that will be published by ANRE and integrated into the interactive web applications for comparing offers: Comparator of offers-type of electricity supply and Comparator of offers-type of natural gas supply”, the Report also states.
The framework procedure applies to electricity and natural gas suppliers, in order to resolve complaints received from end customers, for the following activities: energy contracting; invoicing the value of the energy supplied; offers – type of electricity/natural gas supply; procedure, steps and necessary documents regarding the change of supplier; informing end customers in accordance with the regulations in force; resolving complaints against the supplier, formulated by end customers regarding non-compliance with the regulations in force; resolving other complaints from end customers.
At the same time, the Framework Procedure establishes the obligation of suppliers to publish on the website and to submit to ANRE, semi-annually and annually, reports on the activity of resolving complaints filed by end customers, specifying the number of complaints received (total and broken down by the methods of their receipt by the supplier), the number of complaints resolved within the legal term, the number of justified and unfounded complaints or the type of end customer (household/non-household), as well as their classification in the categories provided for in the Framework Procedure.
The draft order submitted for public consultation aims to align the provisions of the Framework Procedure, currently in force, with the energy legislation, in the sense of eliminating the categories of complaints that do not concern the activity that falls within the attributions of the electricity/natural gas supplier (continuity of energy supply, ensuring the quality of the energy supplied and the functioning of the measurement groups), with the updating of the terminology used within the normative act, preserving the obligations of the suppliers regarding the reporting of complaints.
Additionally, the draft proposes the establishment of a mechanism for classifying electricity/natural gas suppliers that would take into account the number of complaints filed by customers against the suppliers.
“This mechanism will reflect the level of electricity/natural gas supply activity, taking into account the number of complaints filed by end customers with ANRE regarding the supplier’s activity, the number of justified complaints addressed to the supplier by end customers and the number of justified complaints not resolved within the deadline by the supplier”, specifies the cited source.
The most accurate determination of the level of activity provided by suppliers, by reference to the complaints filed, will be achieved through a customer satisfaction index, which will be determined for each supplier separately, depending on the total number of its customers and whose values will be influenced by: complaints received by ANRE from end customers for each supplier separately, in a weight of 50%; justified complaints addressed to the supplier by end customers, in a weight of 30%; complaints not resolved within the legal deadline out of the total justified complaints, in a weight of 20%. Also, when determining the ISC, the 95th Percentile for each category will be taken into account, which represents the value below which 95% of the complaints/grievances are found and is used within the ISC mechanism to define a robust reference threshold, eliminating the influence of extreme values and ensuring a fair comparison between energy suppliers.
The ISC value can be a maximum of 100, which denotes that no complaints have been filed with ANRE against the supplier and it has not received any substantiated complaints from customers.
The ISC will reflect the customer’s level of satisfaction with the way in which it responded to the customer’s complaints/grievances regarding the electricity/natural gas supply activity provided by it, as a high level of satisfaction implies a low number of complaints/grievances, and a low level of satisfaction of the end customer in the supply of energy is reflected by a large number of complaints filed with the supplier or complaints to ANRE.
According to the ISC level, suppliers will be classified, and in this regard each one will be assigned a color, as follows: for ISC below 50 – red color (poor results); for average results – yellow color, for good results – green color.
The colors related to each electricity/natural gas supplier will be displayed in the interactive web applications “Comparator of electricity supply offers-type” and “Comparator of natural gas supply offers-type”. As a transitional measure, until the functionalities of these web applications are developed, ANRE will publish, on its own website, the ISC values for each supplier.