Ombuds(wo)man demands clarity on electricity bills

Soledad Becerril
(Photo: absolutsevilla.com)

Comparative shopping to be encouraged

MADRID The national Ombudsman, Soledad Beceril, has opened an investigation into the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism to find out what is being done about making our electricity bills easier to understand. The ministry has already requested reports from the National Competence and National Energy Commissions. Nevertheless, in a press release Becerril saysSOON YOU WON'T BE SEEING THE REST OF ITEMS LIKE THESE WITHOUT SUBSCRIBING.>>>
that she is concerned that the energy companies are still issuing bills that offer insufficient information and that 'some companies emit bills with information about where the tax payments are going and other details that bear no relation to its production' and others 'simply say how much has to be paid', with no other explanation.

What the Ombudsman's office says is 'desirable' is that the bills offer information about the sources of energy and their impact, as well as setting out all the details about how they arrived at the figures for payment. The idea is that all consumers get the same complete information, which would enable to carry out comparative shopping.