Customers were unaware that the contracts they were signing with gas companies were disadvantageous Shutterstock

Poland’s natural gas suppliers are flouting regulations in their contracts with customers, sometimes inserting clauses that are outright illegal, the country’s consumer watchdog has found. In every single gas-supply agreement that the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) examined, it found irregularities.

The regulator examined 159 templates that were used in some six million agreements concluded by 16 major gas suppliers in Poland – seven subsidiaries of the state-owned natural gas company PGNiG and the nine largest alternative gas suppliers.

All of the standard agreements that were studied either included clauses that were illegal or contained other violations. For example, the supplier was given the right to terminate the contract under conditions not allowed by law. The companies also limited consumers’ right to lodge complaints.

Altogether, 178 irregularities were found, including as many as 134 clauses which are illegal, UOKiK said.

As follow-up to the audit of gas-supply agreements, UOKiK ordered a consumer-awareness survey aimed at finding out how much consumers know about their rights and whether they had ever experienced problems with gas companies.

According to the survey, consumers have little or no idea about their rights and the suppliers’ obligations. Only 19 percent of consumers were aware that they could change their gas supplier. As many as 29 percent were convinced that switching to a different company was not an option.

Most consumers also did not know were to turn in case of a dispute with the supplier. Only one out of four respondents named the correct institutions: the energy regulatory office (9 percent) or consumer protection officers (17 percent).

Beata Socha