• The President of the UOKiK issued a decision regarding the company Polski Prąd i Gaz (formerly Polska Energetyka PRO).
• Representatives of the company impersonated the current electricity vendor.
• More than PLN 10 million - such was the penalty for the violation of consumers' collective interest.

There are approx. 460 electricity vendors in Poland. One of them is the company Polski Prąd i Gaz - formerly operating under the firm Polska Energetyka PRO. It was part of the Financial Assets Management Group, which also includes Tele-Polska and Telekomunikacja dla Domu companies.

On behalf of Polski Prąd i Gaz, electricity sales contracts are signed by sales persons at consumers' homes. The biggest customer base of the Polski Prąd i Gaz company are senior citizens. As the investigation conducted by UOKiK has proven, the company did not attract them in a fair manner.

- Since 2007, each of us is free to choose an electricity vendor. This year, there was a liberalization of the electricity market - therefore, the sales of electricity were separated from its distribution. Sometimes, this means that it is necessary to conclude two separate contracts. As a result of the liberalization, the market has seen an emergence of many actors competing for customers - not always in a fair manner. Polski Prąd i Gaz abused the trust of consumers, and this means a violation of decency - says Marek Niechciał, President of UOKiK.

UOKiK has received over 500 complaints regarding the operations of Polski Prąd i Gaz. Several hundred complaints have also been received by the Energy Regulatory Office. The majority of complaints came from elderly persons and their families. Information about the practices of Polska Energetyka Pro was also submitted by consumer advocates, alarmed by consumers harmed by the company’s actions.

The consumers claimed that the company’s representatives who had visited their homes usually failed to inform that they represented Polska Energetyka Pro. They suggested that they acted on behalf of the current electricity vendor. Thus, when signing the documents, the consumers were not aware that they were actually changing their electricity vendor. Many of them did not have this awareness. This applied to a situation in which representatives of companies providing telecommunication services did not inform consumers that they also represent the company Polska Energetyka Pro, and that among the documents presented for signing there is also an electricity sale contract.

The proceedings in this case have been conducted since September 2015. The President of UOKiK stated that the company Polski Prąd i Gaz:

• misled as to its identity, by impersonating the current electricity vendor.
• suggested that the documents presented for signing constituted an annex to the contract with the current electricity vendor, or that the requirement to sign them resulted from the changes to the applicable law, a liquidation of the electricity vendor whose services the consumer used so far, or a merger of this company with the company Polski Prąd i Gaz.
• applied coercion and pressured consumers, claiming that if a consumer refuses to sign the documents, electricity will be cut off, or that their current contract will expire.
• manipulated the information about lower electricity bills, by failing to inform, among others, about the obligation to pay a monthly trading fee. The company also suggested that after changing the electricity vendor to Polski Prąd i Gaz the consumer would pay tens of percent less for electricity. However, in reality, the price of 1 kWh was barely a few percent lower. Moreover, the company introduced progressive rates in their price lists, which meant that the price of electricity (1 kWh) regularly increased in each subsequent year. Therefore, in the second year of the contract’s term, the price was already a dozen percent higher, on average, than the price that would apply if the consumer had concluded the contract with the so called designated vendor. Moreover, the company neglected to inform about the obligation to pay two invoices for distribution and sale of electricity.
• did not leave the signed documents to consumers, did not inform them about their right to withdraw from the contract and did not provide a contract withdrawal form.

For the violation of collective consumer interests, the President of UOKiK imposed a fine in the amount of over PLN 10 million (PLN 10,253,328), ordering the company to discontinue the above-mentioned practices. The decision is not final - the company appealed against it to the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection. Please be reminded that final decisions of the President of UOKiK are deemed to serve as a collateral estoppel in court proceedings. This means that the findings of the Office concerning practices that infringe collective consumer interests are binding upon courts. Courts are not required to open their own inquiry into the case.

Additional information for the media:

Press Office, UOKiK
pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa
Phone: +48 695 902 088
E-mail: biuroprasowe@uokik.gov.pl

Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL