According to the Energy Consumer Support Bulletin, published by the Energy Services Regulatory Authority (ERSE), in the complaints of energy consumers poured into the complaint books, "the three most complained about topics -- billing, supply contract and unfair commercial practices -- represented 44.8% of the complaints submitted by consumers in the complaint books in the first quarter of 2024".

In the last four quarters, the complaints submitted through the complaint books (physical and electronic) mainly focused on the electricity sector (78.4%), followed by those related to dual supply (electricity and natural gas), with 12.7%.

In the quarter under analysis, ERSE also received 1,087 requests for information from consumers, which represents an increase of 47% compared to the previous quarter and a year-on-year reduction of 18%.

In that period, electricity remained with the highest absolute number of requests from consumers (64.8%), "naturally explained by the fact that the number of customers in electricity is higher".

Additionally, according to ERSE, "the usual price changes in January often lead to questions from consumers".

The four most frequent topics in the requests for information were billing, tariffs and prices and technical quality of service, which concentrated 43.1% of the requests addressed to ERSE between January and March.

Regarding the intervention of the regulator in the resolution of disputes, when the consumer does not obtain a response from the service provider, or the response is not satisfactory, in the first quarter there was a chain increase of about 30% in the requests for intervention from ERSE. In year-on-year terms, these requests registered a decrease of 23% in relation to the same period of the previous year.

The electricity sector motivated the largest number of interventions requested from the regulator, representing 80.4% of the total, with billing remaining the predominant topic.

"In 39% of the cases in which ERSE was asked to intervene, the consumer's claims were fully or partially satisfied and in 19% the necessary information was provided to clarify the consumer", says the bulletin.

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