Subsection 4: Performance of the contract

Electricity and natural gas supply bills are presented in accordance with the conditions laid down by an order of the minister responsible for consumption and the minister responsible for energy issued after consulting the Conseil national de la consommation.

When a supplier wishes to send bills to a consumer on a durable medium other than paper, the supplier first checks that this method of communication is suitable for the customer's situation and ensures that the customer is able to view these bills on the envisaged durable medium. Where the customer provides an electronic address for this purpose, this is verified by the supplier. Once these checks have been carried out, the supplier shall inform the customer in a clear, precise and comprehensible manner that invoices will continue to be sent on the chosen durable medium. It shall repeat these verifications annually.
The supplier shall inform the customer of the latter's right to oppose the use of a durable medium other than paper and to request, by any means, at any time and free of charge, to receive invoices on a paper medium. The supplier is required to prove at any time during the commercial relationship that this information has been brought to the customer's attention.
The communication of invoices on a durable medium other than paper must include an indication of the amount invoiced and the date of payment and must allow easy access to the details of the invoice to which it relates. When the supplier makes invoices available to the customer via a secure personal space on the Internet, it shall inform the customer of the existence and availability of these invoices on this space.

An order of the Minister responsible for consumption and the Minister responsible for energy, issued after consulting the National Consumer Council, specifies the different methods of payment that the supplier is required to offer the customer and their terms and conditions. It specifies the time limits for repayment or the conditions for carrying forward overpayments. In the case of billing in arrears or based on an estimated index, the supplier's estimate appropriately reflects likely consumption. This estimate shall be based on previous actual consumption on the basis of data transmitted by the network operators where available; the supplier shall inform the customer of the basis of his estimate.
The supplier is obliged to offer the customer the possibility of transmitting, by internet, telephone or any other means at the customer's convenience, information on actual consumption, possibly in the form of meter readings, on dates that allow these meter readings to be taken into account when issuing the customer's bills. The electricity or natural gas supplier is required to offer all its customers the option of paying their bills by money order, free of charge.