According to the Competition Authority, the price of the universal electricity service will only be known in the final days of September. This means that electricity providers will not be ready to reveal their prices for the service to customers until the first week of October.

Eesti Energia's call center has its hands full recently due to interest in the universal electricity service, which is set to come into force on September 23.

"Naturally, people are asking when the universal service will be available, when the price will be known and so on," said Dajana Tiitsaar, Eesti Energia Estonia's country manager.

"We have said, that we'll know at the end of the month, then we'll immediately inform all our customers. We will inform all those customers, for whom the universal service would be a more favorable option than their current electricity packages, personally and as soon as possible," Tiitsaar said.

According to the Competition Authority, once the law comes into force on Friday, Eesti Energia will than have the next week to calculate the new price of electricity.

"Within three days of the law entering into force, Eesti Energia has to submit a formal (price) proposal by Monday. We have already started negotiations with both Eesti Energia and Enefit Power on the data, so, I can say at this stage that the preliminary work has been done. I cannot provide an exact date, but I can say that it will be available by the end of the month, at the latest. If it can be done quicker, it will be done quicker, but (it will be ready) no later than next Friday," she said.

Customers will therefore only be able to see electricity providers' prices, which include both production costs and profits, in the first week of October.   

Andrus Liivand, chair of Elektrum Estonia's management board, said, that in practice, little has changed for customers.

"If (the price) is confirmed on October 6, seven days' notice will still be applicable, with customers required to inform us two days before the seventh day (of this notice period), if they wish to opt out of universal service. In this sense, it does not change anything, customers will still receive the universal service price retroactively, starting from October 1," said Liivand.

Liivand explained, that customers will only have the ability to choose between the universal service prices offered by different electricity providers, in early October. However, he added, it is still possible to switch electricity supplier within a 14-day period.

Märt Ots, former head of the Competition Authority and current advisor to Entrepreneurship and IT Minister Kristjan Järvan (Isamaa), who helped draft the universal service law, was asked, whether, considering the deadlines involved, the price ought to be made clear much earlier.

"It is one thing to take all the pieces of legislation in turn. However, in real terms, as a domestic consumer, I get my bill for the previous month's consumption somewhere around the tenth (of the month). This means, that I should receive my October bill on November 10, at the latest, and so, if we count that time, there are actually 40 days left (until the prices affect consumers)," said Ots.

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