A debt-flagging system has been included in proposed revisions for the country’s electricity supply code, put to consultation by RAAEY, the Regulatory Authority for Waste, Energy and Water, in an effort to deal with numerous debt-owing consumers who are systematically switching suppliers to avoid payments, a practice locally dubbed “energy tourism”.

Suppliers are already questioning the efficacy of the electricity supply code revisions proposed as they do not permit supply-cut requests for former customers with arrears.

As a result, suppliers will have no incentive to raise the flag on former customers if they are not able to recover older debt from them, critics of the new proposal have pointed out.

To produce desired results, the debt-flagging system will require a thorough and collective effort from all suppliers.

Under the authority’s proposed revisions, electricity suppliers will only be able to raise the flag on consumers with arrears, for all suppliers to see through a collective data bank, if customers with arrears have failed to respond to installment-based payback requests made by their suppliers.

These installment-based payback requests made by suppliers will need to offer consumers at least six monthly installments.

The debt-flagging system, to be established by distribution network operator DEDDIE/HEDNO, will maintain records of all consumers with electricity-bill arrears as far back as January 1, 2020.

Consumers will be regarded as strategic evaders of electricity bill payments if they have switched at least two suppliers from January 1, 2020 to avoid servicing overdue amounts.