The new universal service was introduced last month and the first bills since its introduction have started to arrive. The government's compensation scheme also helps to lower prices.

Eesti Energia's Dajana Tiitsaar told Monday's "Aktuaalne kaamera" the universal service scheme can be seen as successful as the number of people calling their call center to complain has dropped considerably.

She estimated the saving to be approximately a third.

"Here is an example of this universal service price. Let's say we have a 100 square meter house with electric heating that consumes somewhere around 550 kilowatt-hours per month, and the electricity bill would have been around €90 plus VAT, but now the saving is around €30 plus VAT cheaper. You could say that it fell by a third. Of course, consumption and people's places of residence are different, but this is an example of a win-win situation," she said.

Eesti Gaas board member Raul Kotov said more than 60 percent of their electricity customers switched to the new scheme but it is difficult to pinpoint the exact amount of savings made as customers' consumption varies.

He said bills are still expected to be higher than usual this winter, over €200 per megawatt hour.

"Consumption increases in the winter, so in that sense, the universal service will certainly help people and hopefully in the future it will also help those companies that use the universal service," said Kotov.

He said prices are expected to remain high for some time and fall in the coming years.

Only domestic consumers and small businesses can sign up to the universal service.

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