With strategic defaulters living in 80% of market valuations, Catholic Service was the provider with the highest customer growth among providers in 2022. The Universal Service was created to include consumers whose contract has been terminated as a protection regime until they find a new supplier. However, unlike other countries, this system does not impose strict restrictions on being in the Catholic service, as a result of which it mainly functions as a haven for strategic defaulters.

According to unofficial data, the customer base of the Catholic Service in 2022 increased by 50,000 consumers, and the total number reached 198,000 from 148,000 at the end of 2021. This portfolio ranks 6th among suppliers in terms of the number of representative meters. Over time, the Universal Service has become a huge distortion that poses serious risks as it creates growing risks, spreading horizontally across the entire market from vendors to administrators.

Suppliers have asked the Department of Environment and Energy to take immediate action based on the RAE’s opinion, which provides for a maximum stay of 3 months, except for vulnerable customers. The political leadership of the ministry entered into a dialogue with the market with the intention of reviewing the work of the Catholic service, but so far no common ground has been found. Suppliers, for their part, are simultaneously considering creating a kind of energy Teiresia as a tool to control non-payments from strategic defaulters.