Case C-310/24, Elektrorazpredelitelni mrezhi Zapad: Request for a preliminary ruling from the Sofiyski rayonen sad (Bulgaria) lodged on 29 April 2024 – YL v Elektrorazpredelitelni mrezhi Zapad EAD
Date: 2024-04-29
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: consumer protection, electrical energy, electricity supply, energy consumption, energy grid, measuring equipment, price of energy








C_202404714EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/4714


5.8.2024






Request for a preliminary ruling from the Sofiyski rayonen sad (Bulgaria) lodged on 29 April 2024 – YL v ‘Elektrorazpredelitelni mrezhi Zapad’ EAD


(Case C-310/24, Elektrorazpredelitelni mrezhi Zapad)

(C/2024/4714)
Language of the case: Bulgarian

Referring court

Sofiyski rayonen sad

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: YL

Defendant:
            ‘Elektrorazpredelitelni mrezhi Zapad’ EAD

Questions referred







1.



Must [the concept of] ‘charges … for losses’
                      for the purposes of Article 46(2)(d) of Directive (EU) 2019/944 (1) and Article 18(8) of Regulation (EU) 2019/943 (2) be interpreted as including also electricity consumed but not recorded by the metering device, where the absence of metering or the inaccurate metering of the electricity provided to the consumer:






(a)


is due to external influence;










(b)


is not due to external influence;




and the cause was not remedied in good time by the operator or the electricity supplier, and the charge includes an ‘estimated’ amount of electricity over a period of time determined by law, the end of which is dependent on the supplier establishing a technical malfunction?










2.


Is the obligation of the regulatory authority under Article 59(1)(a) of Directive 2019/944 to be interpreted as meaning that the principle of fixing transparent criteria for transmission or distribution tariffs or their methodologies is complied with where the tariff includes the operator’s costs in respect of a calculation of the estimated amount of losses over an estimated period of time, on account of an issue with the metering device (metering device that fails to record or is technically malfunctioning), where the reason for that device’s failure






(a)


is due to external influence;










(b)


is not due to external influence;




and that cause was not remedied in good time by the operator or the electricity supplier, which is the owner of the metering device?










3.


Must Article 18(1) and (7) of Regulation (EU) 2019/943 be interpreted as allowing national legal rules under which costs in respect of electricity consumed by a consumer are determined on the basis of an estimate of that consumer’s electricity consumption over an estimated period of time, without verification of the amount of electricity he or she has actually consumed, where there is an issue with the device for the measurement of the amount of electricity and that issue:






(a)


is due to external influence;










(b)


is not due to external influence?














4.


Must Article 27 of Directive 2011/83/EU (3) be interpreted as meaning that the consumer is under an obligation to pay for an estimated amount of electricity over an estimated period of time, where the metering device does not record the actual amount of electricity consumed, that device is located outside the consumer’s property, and its failure to record:






(a)


is due to external influence;










(b)


is not due to external influence?














5.


Must Article 10(4) of Directive [2019/944/EU] be interpreted as allowing national legal rules permitting an electricity supplier/operator to recalculate the amount of electricity, replacing it with an estimated amount of electricity consumed over an estimated period of time, where the metering device is not measuring properly, is beyond the consumer’s reach, and its failure to record:






(a)


is due to external influence;










(b)


is not due to external influence?










(1)  Directive (EU) 2019/944 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on common rules for the internal market for electricity and amending Directive 2012/27/EU (OJ 2019 L 158, p. 125).

(2)  Regulation (EU) 2019/943 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on the internal market for electricity (OJ 2019 L 158, p. 54).

(3)  Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on consumer rights, amending Council Directive 93/13/EEC and Directive 1999/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directive 85/577/EEC and Directive 97/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ 2011 L 304, p. 64).


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/4714/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)