Changes from plenary report to adopted text

Removed5. Discrimination and cross-subsidisation between different categories of customers and between energy carriers shall be avoided when carrying out a fuel switch or a district heating connection.

Removed6. Member States shall ensure that measures are put in place to mitigate and resolve any inequities resulting from policies aiming to achieve an energy efficient and climate neutral energy system.

Removed7. Member States shall take all measures necessary to ensure that fuel switches or district heating connections implemented pursuant to this Article have no adverse effect on final customers, vulnerable customers, customers affected by or at risk of energy poverty and people who live in social housing. Where applicable, Member States shall make the best possible use of funding, including public funding and funding facilities established at Union level, with the aim of removing adverse effects and ensuring a just and inclusive energy transition.

Removed1. Member States shall ensure that at least natural gas household customers, small enterprises and microenterprises, have access, free of charge, to at least one tool comparing the offers of suppliers, including bundled offers. Customers shall be informed of the availability of such tools in or together with their bills or by other means. The tools shall meet at least the following requirements:

Removed(a) they shall be independent from market participants and ensure that natural gas undertakings are given equal treatment in search results;

Removed(b) they shall clearly disclose their owners and the natural or legal person operating and controlling the tools, as well as information on how the tools are financed;

Removed(c) they shall set out clear and objective criteria on which the comparison is to be based, including services, and disclose them;

Removed(d) they shall use plain and unambiguous language;

Removed(e) they shall provide accurate and up-to-date information and state the time of the last update on the information;

Removed(f) they shall be accessible to persons with disabilities, by being perceivable, operable, understandable and robust;

Removed(g) they shall provide an effective procedure for reporting incorrect information on published offers;

Removed(h) they shall perform comparisons, while limiting the personal data requested to that strictly necessary for the comparison.

RemovedMember States shall ensure that at least one tool covers the entire ▌ gas market. Where multiple tools cover the market, those tools shall include, as complete as practicable, a range of gas offers covering a significant part of the market and, where those tools do not completely cover the market, a clear statement to that effect, before displaying results.

Removed2. The tools may be operated by any entity, including private companies and public authorities or bodies.

Removed3. Member States shall require comparison tools referred to in paragraph 1 to include comparative criteria relating to the nature of the services offered by the suppliers, including on whether the price is fixed or variable, the contract length, the single unit price, including all charges and taxes, and discounts, in order to allow final customers to identify the cheapest offer, and in case the environmental impact is promoted as an essential feature of the offer, a description of that environmental impact.

RemovedWhen establishing those criteria, Member States shall consult relevant stakeholders, including organisations representing consumer’s interests.

Removed4. Member States shall appoint a competent authority to be responsible for issuing trust marks for comparison tools that meet the requirements set out in paragraph 1, and for ensuring that comparison tools bearing a trust mark continue to meet those requirements. To enable the competent authorities to issue trust marks, suppliers and relevant intermediaries shall provide them with all available current and past offers. In particular, competent authorities shall carry out regular reviews of price comparison tools bearing a trust mark to ensure that the requirements of paragraphs 1 and 3 continue to be met. That competent authority shall be independent of any market participants and comparison tool operators.

Removed5. Any tool comparing the offers of market participants shall be eligible to apply for a trust mark in accordance with this Article on a voluntary and non-discriminatory basis.

Removed6. By way of derogation from paragraphs 4 and 5, Member States may choose not to provide for the issuance of trust marks to comparison tools if a public authority or body provides a comparison tool that meets the requirements set out in paragraph 1.

Removed1. Member States shall ensure that final customers, in particular from the agricultural or public sector, while maintaining their rights as final customers as established in this Directive, are entitled to act as active customers without being subject to disproportionate or discriminatory technical requirements, administrative requirements, procedures and charges, and to network charges that are not cost-reflective. Member States shall ensure that active customers comply with applicable sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions savings criteria under Article 29 of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 [amended RED] and the relevant provisions on methane emissions in Regulation (EU) .../... +.

Removed2. Member States shall ensure that active customers are:

Removed(a) entitled to operate directly;

Removed(b) entitled to sell self-produced renewable natural gas using the natural gas system;

Removed(c) entitled to participate in energy efficiency schemes;

Removed(d) entitled to delegate to a third party the management of the installations required for their activities, including installation, operation, data handling and maintenance, without that third party being considered to be an active customer;

Removed(e) subject to cost-reflective, transparent and non-discriminatory network charges, ensuring that they contribute in an adequate and balanced way to the overall cost sharing of the system;

Removed(f) are financially responsible for the imbalances they cause in the natural gas system or shall delegate their balancing responsibility in accordance with Article 3 (e) of [recast Gas Regulation as proposed in COM(2021) xxx].

Removed3. Member States may have different provisions applicable to individual and jointly-acting active customers in their national law, provided that all rights and obligations under this Article apply to all active customers. Any difference in the treatment of jointly-acting active customers shall be proportionate and duly justified.

Removed4. Member States shall ensure that renewable natural gas active customers that own facilities that produce or store renewable gas:

Removed(a) have the right to a grid connection within a reasonable time after they made a request to that effect, provided that all necessary conditions, such as balancing responsibility, are fulfilled;

Removed(b) are not subject to any double charges, including network charges, for stored renewable gas remaining within their premises;

Removed(c) are not subject to disproportionate licensing requirements or fees;

Removed(d) are allowed to provide several services simultaneously, if technically feasible.

Removed▌

Removed1. Member States shall ensure that bills and billing information are accurate, easy to understand, clear, concise, user-friendly and presented in a manner that facilitates comparison by final customers and that they fulfil the minimum requirements set out in Annex I. On request, final customers shall receive a clear and understandable explanation of how their bill was derived, especially where bills are not based on actual consumption.

Removed2. Member States shall ensure that final customers receive all their bills and billing information free of charge.

Removed3. Member States shall ensure that final customers are offered the option of electronic bills and billing information and are offered flexible arrangements for the actual payment of the bills.

Removed4. Where the contract provides for a future change of the product or price, or a discount, this shall be indicated on the bill together with the date on which the change takes place.

Removed5. Member States shall consult consumer organisations when they consider changes to the requirements for the content of bills.

Removed1. In order to complement energy efficiency measures adopted pursuant to Directives (EU) .../...+ and (EU) .../...++ and to further empower final customers, Member States or, where a Member State has so provided, the regulatory authority shall strongly recommend that natural gas undertakings optimise the use of natural gas, inter alia, by providing energy management services, after a positive cost-benefit assessment, and introducing smart metering systems that are interoperable, in particular with consumer energy management systems and with smart grids, in accordance with the applicable Union data protection rules.

Removed2. Member States shall proceed with the deployment in their territories of smart metering systems that assist the active participation of customers only after a positive cost-benefit assessment which clearly assesses and specifies the benefits to customers that arise from the use of smart meters and of signing up for smart meter-enabled offers. The cost-benefit assessment shall be undertaken in accordance with the principles laid down in Annex II. The cost-benefit assessment shall also evaluate the impacts of deploying smart metering systems only for industrial customers.

Removed3. Member States that proceed with the deployment of smart metering systems shall adopt and publish the minimum functional and technical requirements for the smart metering systems to be deployed in their territories, in accordance with Article 18 and Annex II. Member States shall ensure the interoperability of those smart metering systems, as well as their ability to provide output for consumer energy management systems. In that respect, Member States shall have due regard to the use of the relevant available standards, including those enabling interoperability, to best practices and to the importance of the development of smart grids and the development of the internal market for natural gas.

Removed3a. Member States that proceed with the deployment of smart metering systems shall develop guidelines regarding the provision of clear and understandable information and advice to customers about the benefits of smart meters. Member States shall develop those guidelines after consulting consumer bodies and other relevant organisations. Those guidelines shall at least:

Removed(a) include advice on how customer groups can use their smart metering system to improve their energy efficiency;

Removed(b) establish industry wide standards to address the specific needs of vulnerable customers, such as persons with a visual or hearing impairment, and persons with low levels of literacy;

Removed(c) include local engagement strategies to encourage the support of authorities and support services to explain how smart appliances can benefit vulnerable customers and customers affected by or at risk of energy poverty.

Removed4. Member States that proceed with the deployment of smart metering systems shall ensure that final customers contribute to the associated costs of the deployment in a transparent and non-discriminatory manner, while taking into account the long-term benefits to the whole value chain. Member States or, where a Member State has so provided, the designated competent authorities, shall regularly monitor such deployment in their territories to track the delivery of benefits to customers. Benefits to network operations in accordance with the cost-benefit assessment, for example, in terms of savings, in particular due to better network management, more efficient fault clearing, more precise planning and the identification of network losses, shall be subtracted when calculating customers’ contribution.

Removed▌

Removed6. The provisions in this Directive concerning smart metering systems shall apply to future installations and to installations that replace older smart meters. Smart metering systems that have already been installed, or for which the ‘start of works’ began, before [date of entry into force], may remain in operation over their lifetime. However, smart metering systems that do not meet the requirements of Article 20 and Annex II, shall not remain in operation after [12 years after entering into force of this Directive].

Removed7. For the purpose of paragraph 6, ‘start of works’ means either the start of construction works on the investment or the first firm commitment to order equipment or other commitment that makes the investment irreversible, whichever is the first in time. Buying of land and preparatory works such as obtaining permits and conducting preliminary feasibility studies shall not considered as start of works. For take-overs, ‘start of works’ means the moment of acquiring the assets directly linked to the acquired establishment.

Removed▌

RemovedWhere the deployment of smart metering systems is positively assessed as a result of the cost-benefit assessment referred to in Article 16(2), ▌ Member States shall deploy those systems in accordance with European standards, the following requirements, and Annex II:

Removed(a) the smart metering systems shall accurately measure actual natural gas consumption and shall be capable of providing to final customers information on actual time of use, including validated historical consumption data which shall be made easily and securely available and visualised to final customers on request and at no additional cost, and non -validated most recent available consumption data which shall also be made easily and securely available to final customers at no additional cost, through a standardised interface or through remote access, in order to support automated energy efficiency programmes, and other services;

Removed(b) the security of the smart metering systems and data communication shall comply with relevant Union security rules, having due regard to the best available techniques for ensuring the highest level of cybersecurity protection while bearing in mind the costs and the principle of proportionality;

Removed(c) the privacy of final customers and the protection of their data shall comply with relevant Union data protection and privacy rules;

Removed(d) if final customers request it, their natural gas consumption data shall be made available to them, in accordance with the implementing acts adopted pursuant to Article 23, through a standardised communication interface or through remote access, or to a third party acting on their behalf, in an easily understandable format allowing them to compare offers on a like-for-like basis;

Removed(e) appropriate advice and information shall be given to final customers prior to or at the time of installation of smart meters, in particular concerning their full potential with regard to the management of meter reading and the monitoring of energy consumption, and concerning the collection and processing of personal data in accordance with the applicable Union data protection rules;

Removed(f) smart metering systems shall enable final customers to be metered and settled at the same time resolution as the shortest settlement period in the national market.

RemovedFor the purposes of point (d) of the first subparagraph, it shall be possible for final customers to retrieve their metering data or transmit them to another party at no additional cost and in accordance with their right to data portability under Union data protection rules.

Removed1. Where the deployment of smart metering systems has been negatively assessed as a result of the cost-benefit assessment referred to in Article 16(2) ▌, Member States shall ensure that every industrial customer is entitled, on request, while bearing the associated costs, to have installed or, where applicable, to have upgraded, under fair, reasonable and cost-effective conditions, a smart meter that: