1.7. the Government Regulation on the conditions for exercising special rights of vulnerable customers will come into force. According to the Energy Act, a vulnerable person is a person who uses in his or her home any specified equipment that:
- cannot be operated without a continuous supply of electricity
- its use is necessary to maintain the person’s basic life functions.
These facilities are identified in the Annex to the Regulation and include:
- active medical devices for home pulmonary ventilation or oxygen therapy,
- active anti-disability mattress,
- active medical devices for the treatment of sleep apnoea,
- active medical devices for home haemodialysis treatment and
- active medical devices for home tracheostomy care.
Vulnerable customer
A vulnerable customer is:
a vulnerable person who has entered into an electricity supply contract
a customer who has entered into an electricity supply contract (and is not himself a vulnerable person) and the vulnerable person resides at the point of consumption.
If the vulnerable person is not also a customer under an electricity supply contract (i.e. the case in 2) above), he exercises his rights and obligations through the customer who is a party to the electricity supply contract. A written agreement shall be concluded between the vulnerable person and the customer on the exercise of the rights and obligations of the vulnerable person through the customer, which shall be documented by the customer to the electricity supplier. A model agreement is attached to the Government Regulation.
In order to be granted the special rights of a vulnerable customer, the vulnerable customer shall provide the electricity supplier with a certificate of compliance with the conditions for granting the special rights of a vulnerable customer. This certificate is issued by a general practitioner and its model is annexed to the Government Regulation.
Rights and obligations of a vulnerable customer:
The special rights of a vulnerable customer are in particular:
- the right to be notified free of charge in writing of non-performance of payment obligations under the contract for the supply of electricity at least 15 days before the expected date of termination of the contract or before the expected date of termination or interruption of the supply of electricity in the event of unauthorised consumption,
- free of charge targeted notification of the restriction or interruption of electricity supply due to planned work on the distribution system equipment or in its protection zone at least 15 days in advance,
- free targeted notification of a reduction or interruption of electricity supply due to a fault,
- a free targeted notification of the expiry of the certificate of eligibility for the special rights of a vulnerable customer at least 2 months before the expiry of the certificate.
The vulnerable customer is obliged to disclose the designated point of supply and to provide proof of compliance with the conditions for the granting of the special rights of a vulnerable customer. In addition, the vulnerable customer is obliged to immediately notify the electricity supplier supplying electricity to the designated point of consumption of all circumstances affecting the conditions for granting special rights to the vulnerable customer.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or guidance for any particular case.
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