15 September will mark the coming into force of Latvijas Gāze’s (LG) new payment order for households. This new order no longer mentions equalised payment option.
According to information from LG, from that point on all new household clients will be offered monthly gas bills. For existing clients, however, the payment order will change gradually, by the end of the year.
As reported by LG Household Department manager Diana Tivča, the company receives frequent calls from clients about the way the equalised payment is calculated. Clients also frequently ask about changing to a monthly payment option.
Clients who use gas for heating and who are eligible for state aid ask about changing the payment option the most often.
«Considering this and the very dynamic situation on the natural gas market, when rapid changes appear very frequently and it is necessary to respond very quickly, we have decided to discontinue offering the equalised payment option,» Tivča explains.
This change offers several advantages, stressed Tivča.
«The main [advantage] is the opportunity for clients to receive monthly bills as a reminder of the amount they have to pay and a clear indication of the amount for the month. They will also see the state aid amount provided to them, if they are eligible.»
The other advantage Tivča mentioned is the ability to follow their gas consumption and reduce their carbon footprint.
«By following the amount of gas consumed every month, clients will be able to implement measures to increase energy efficiency and reduce gas bills. Reduction of consumption of energy resources in households helps reduce both energy bills and the carbon footprint.»
According to information provided by LG, the main differences when compared to the previous payment order include:
The period of time for reporting gas counter readings is between the 27th of the current month and the 1st work day of next month (included).
Gas bills will be sent to households every month between the 10th and 15th. Clients will receive bills as they do now – customer portal, e-mail or in the mail (in paper form).
Clients who will have their payment option changed due to changes to their payment option, the fee for sending the bill in paper form will be EUR 1.00 starting from 1 January 2023. To receive bills by e-mail, clients will need to apply on LG customer service portal.
Because the planned changes will affect a large number of LG household clients, and a certain portion of clients will receive state aid to help them pay for gas, the change of their used payment method will be done gradually by the end of the year.
In September the change of payment option will be done for clients who are eligible to receive state aid and clients whose reference period ends in August.
In August clients will receive notification to submit their gas counter reading.
In September clients will receive a report for the previous period. In October clients will receive the first monthly bill for the gas volume consumed in September.
In October payment option change will be done for clients who primarily use gas to prepare food and who received bills on their e-mail address until now. This also applies to clients whose reference period ends in September.
At the end of September clients will receive notification to submit their gas counter reading. In October clients will receive a report for the period reference period.
In November clients will receive their first monthly bill for gas consumed in October.
In November the payment option will be changed for all remaining groups of clients.
At the end of October clients will receive notification to submit their gas counter reading. In December clients will receive their first monthly bill for gas used in November.
Also read: Latvijas Gāze to discontinue equalised payment option