Eesti Energia Contests Competition Authority Accusation
Eesti Energia said it will not bow to the demands of the Competition Authority to lower the price of the general service.
The regulator's director general, Märt Ots, told uudised.err.ee a month ago that the state-owned Eesti Energia charges more than double the margin from the default customers compared with those who have signed a contract.
Margus Rink, a board member of Eesti Energia, told ETV on Thursday that the regulator, in its report on the general service price, has used expense costs from 2010, when the market had not yet been opened and the company had a monopoly.
Rink said that the margin is lower for customers who have a contract, as their consumption is easier to calculate, adding that he expects the margin to further grow as default customer numbers dwindle.
Ots said that if the trend continues, soon the marginal will be five or tenfold higher, and the law, which states that all customers should be treated equally, will be ignored.
About half of consumers had not signed a contract with any of the electricity providers by January 1, when the market was deregulated. The numbers of default customers has dropped each month and is down to fewer than 10 percent of households.