Area of jurisdiction

Area of juridiction

The field of jurisdiction of the national energy ombudsman is strictly regulated by the law of 7th December 2006 regarding the energy sector.

Energy

Consumers

An appeal may be made to the national energy ombudsman by any private consumer or small professional consumer who has a subscription for electrical power less than or equal to 36 kilovolt-amperes (kVA) or who consumes less than 30,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of natural gas per year.

Complaints

The only admissible applications are those which have been subject to a prior written complaint to an electricity or natural gas supplier, who has two months in which to propose a solution to the consumer.
If the consumer has not received a satisfactory reply from his supplier by the end of that period, or if the latter has not replied, the consumer can appeal to the ombudsman within a maximum of two months.

Cases where the ombudsman cannot intervene:

The ombudsman has no authority for complaints concerning:

   • the form of the contract, such as sales without prior orders or abusive sales practices:   for consumer rights see www.energie-info.fr;
   • Contracts for connection to the electricity and natural gas distribution network with the network operators;
   • professional consumers who subscribe for electrical power greater than 36 kVA and consume more than 30,000 kWh of natural gas per year;
   • suppliers of bottled gas (propane, butane etc) or other forms of energy (fuel etc).