EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes said regulators at the European Commission are currently working on 'several' cases of potential antitrust abuses in the bloc's energy sector.
Speaking here, Kroes said: 'I am determined that companies who abuse their market power must not get away with it, and putting this into practice in the energy sector is a key enforcement priority,' declining to elaborate further on individual cases.
In a wide-ranging speech on energy issues, Kroes also confirmed she is against government regulation of tariffs in electricity and gas markets.
'We frequently hear calls for price regulation. If prices are too high, we should just put a cap on them. However, in my view such regulation is neither sensible nor sustainable'.
'Such state intervention blocks competition by pricing out new competitors. It also distorts market signals, risking under-investment in production capacity as well as interconnecting capacity. Furthermore it is bad for energy efficiency and security of supply, she said.
Kroes said, with regard to the downstream market, the commission prefers a 'right mix' of short and long-term contracts, citing the EU executive's ongoing dialogue with Suez unit gas group Distrigas over long-term gas sales contracts in Belgium.
'This sort of solution strikes the right balance. It provides reasonable scope for long-term contracting in the downstream gas market, while also ensuring market openness,' she said.
Kroes also expressed concern towards electricity buyer consortia when they lead to the conclusion of long-term contracts with incumbents.
Kroes affirmed her wish to implement 'ownership unbundling' across the bloc's electricity and gas markets, where supply and network activities of large energy groups such as Germany's E.ON (nyse: EON - news - people ) AG, France's Gaz de France and Italy's ENI are separated.
She said the 'conflict of interest' this combination represents has 'suppressed investment in interconnection capacity and in network capacity, threatening both competition and security of supply'.
Kroes said a joint letter written earlier this month by eight EU member states -- Denmark, the UK, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Finland and Romania -- to the commission urging it to stick with its unbundling plans is 'very interesting'.
The commission's proposals were strongly opposed by several countries, led by France and Germany.
The commission presents its third package of energy sector liberalisation proposals in the summer.
source:www.forbes.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment