Does your electric company give you all the data you need in the invoices? These documents must comply with a required minimum content that must appear yes or yes, established by standard to empower the consumer with more information about the service, thus avoiding abuses in the sector.
It is possible that in this case the phrase ‘never a QR was never so expensive. Specifically, about 600,000 euros, 1.2 million in total, for both Naturgy and Endesa, for not including mandatory information in the invoices of its customers. This sanction, imposed by the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC), is caused precisely because none of these energy included the QR code that links with the offers comparator of this same institution.
The CNMC has a gas and electricity offers comparator that any citizen can access, and that has the objective of informing with transparent and updated data on the prices of the different companies. In addition, the CNMC also has a tool called “understand your invoice”, which, as the name indicates, provides context on each expense to completely understand our electrical or gas invoice, and thus avoid any type of abuse by the Marketing.
After two clients denounced before the regulatory institution to be receiving invoices that did not include this link QR code to these tools, the CNMC has seen appropriate to sanction both companies, since this QR is part of the minimum required content that by law must incorporate The invoices.
This news serves to remember the existence of these tools made available to all and useful to check if we pay a fair price. It also urges us to review our invoices to verify that this minimum required is present, making sure that our energy company complies with the regulations.
Mild missing Endesa and Naturgy
The CNMC could verify that Endesa EnergÃa used QR codes or poorly configured links, and that Naturgy Iberia did not include the QR or link to the comparator in some invoices.
Not to meet these requirements is a slight fault according to the law of the electricity sector, and therefore, the institution communicated on Wednesday 5 the imposition to each company a fine of 600,000 euros, the maximum for this type of infraction, due to the prolonged impact In consumers.
Endesa paid voluntarily and his fine was reduced to 480,000 euros, while Naturgy’s was reduced to 360,000 euros for the same reason. Companies can resort to the decision before the National Court within a period of two months from the notification, as they remember from the CNMC.
A QR code serves to easily access a link from the mobile, scanning it with the smartphone camera and redirecting a website on the browser. As explained from the CNMC, scanning the QR of the invoice allows the customer to see their own consumption data and compare whether there are more or less economic offers in the market. In addition, it allows you to access “understand your bill”, another CNMC tool that explains your contract and each amount of the receipt.
