Mandatory Debit, excessive expenses in case of computer malfunctions, if unpaid, on termination of contracts or contracts … moving companies responsible for the provision of electricity and gas – including EDF and GDF – contain unfair terms according to a report of the Committee on unfair terms (CCA), an organization that depends on the secretariat State for Consumer Affairs.
To read the full report, click here or visit the link: www.clauses-abusives.fr/recom/index.htm
The issue is not trivial. Almost 50% of the French say they regularly have a bad surprise discovering the invoice amount, without the means to check, and a quarter have difficulty to pay, according to an Ifop-Qinergy poll released in fall 2014 .
Delete unfair terms
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CAA issued a “recommendation” to 31 to remove these unfair terms in the contracts for electricity and gas supplies (excluding LPG). These unfair terms result in a “significant imbalance between the rights and obligations of the parties to the contract” to the detriment of the consumer, the Commission explains on its website.
Among the practices complained last year, CAA notes imputed bills whenever the computer malfunctions, the fact to “impose direct debit as the sole method of payment” or leave the impression that they could terminate the contract at any time. The Commission also considers unacceptable that the consumer receives the invoice electronically only, or it is charged to undefined costs in case of non-payment.
She wants to eliminate contract clauses which tend to impose on the consumer to ensure that the subscribed rate corresponds to its needs. It also criticizes the supplier of power in case of problems, too easily discharge from liability by invoking a force majeure, the definition is “wider than that of the common law.”
Incumbents defend
Meanwhile, incumbents argue that they have already already amended certain clauses. “We have improved our terms and conditions in 2013 and have been applied on 1 February 2014 to incorporate best practices,” responded a spokesman for EDF, told AFP. “Things have been clarified in the relationship” between the supplier and the consumer, she said, refusing to give details on what exactly was this clarification work.
At GDF Suez, a spokeswoman said that “there were three issues that concerned us” and “there are a number of things we corrected” . One thing to be exact: the consulting clause. It “was changed in July 2014, on the recommendation of the Committee in its preliminary report published in March,” the spokesman GDF-Suez. The company believes it is his advisor at the time of the subscription contract but it is up to the customer to ensure the adequacy of the price and consumption “for the duration of the contract”, a statement added to the initial clause.
Carole Delga application checks
As for the recommendation to run the payment period from the receipt of invoice date instead of the date of dispatch, GDF Suez says that the issue is being “governed by a decree, so this is the decree that imposes the recommendations of the Committee. ” On force majeure “the definition in our terms and conditions and has not changed,” said the operator
The Secretary of State for Consumer Affairs, Carole Delga, s. said Saturday that he asked the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) “to conduct an audit of the proper implementation of this recommendation” of the CAA and “if necessary to take action contentious of compliance. “
In February 2013, the consumer association UFC-Que Choisir had assigned in justice EDF and GDF Suez and their smaller competitors Direct Energy and Eni for many” unfair terms “in the electricity and gas contracts for individuals. The procedure is still ongoing, according to Le Parisien.
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