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1. Minimum requirements for billing 1.1. Billing based on actual consumption In order to enable final customers to regulate their own energy consumption, billing should take place on the basis of actual consumption at least once a year, and billing information should be made available at least on a quarterly basis, on request or where the consumers have opted to receive electronic billing or else twice a year. Gas used only for cooking purposes may be exempt from this requirement.

1.2. Minimum information contained in the bill Member States shall ensure that, where appropriate, the following information is made available to final customers in clear and understandable terms in or with their bills, contracts, transactions, and receipts at distribution stations:

(a) current actual prices and actual consumption of energy;

(b) comparisons of the final customer’s current energy consumption with consumption for the same period in the previous year, preferably in graphic form;

(c) contact information for final customers’ organisations, energy agencies or similar bodies, including website addresses from which information may be obtained on available energy efficiency improvement measures, comparative end-user profiles and objective technical specifications for energy-using equipment. In addition, wherever possible and useful, Member States shall ensure that comparisons with an average normalised or benchmarked final customer in the same user category are made available to final customers in clear and understandable terms, in, with or signposted to within, their bills, contracts, transactions, and receipts at distribution stations.

1.3. Advice on energy efficiency accompanying bills and other feedback to final customers

When sending contracts and contract changes, and in the bills customers receive or through websites addressing individual customers, energy distributors, distribution system operators and retail energy sales companies shall inform their customers in a clear and understandable manner of contact information for independent consumer advice centres, energy agencies or similar institutions, including their internet addresses, where they can obtain advice on available energy efficiency measures, benchmark profiles for their energy consumption and technical specifications of energy using appliances that can serve to reduce the consumption of those appliances.