New EU rules to make energy bills more accurate and transparent for consumers came into force on Monday 26 October.
The new arrangements, which stem from EU directive (2018/2002), which amends Directive 2012/27/EU on energy efficiency, require Member States to ensure that final users and households have access to their bills and their actual energy consumption.
Member States should ensure that, in multi-apartment buildings, clear rules and technical equipment are in place to guarantee transparency in the allocation of the cost of heating, cooling and hot water for each household.
Under the new measures, households connected to local authority heating and cooling systems will receive their bills more frequently, at least twice a year.
In addition, clear information should be readily available to all energy users regarding costs, taxes, the environmental impact of the energy they use, as well as how they can save energy, change supplier or make a complaint.
Finally, Member States must ensure that, where possible, new apartments that are connected to a central heating source for domestic hot water or are supplied from local authority heating systems are provided with individual meters. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)