Antitrust: Commission fines two power exchanges €5.9 million in cartel settlement

The European Commission has imposed fines totalling €5,979,000 on the two leading European spot power exchanges, EPEX Spot (EPEX) and Nord Pool Spot (NPS) for having agreed not to compete with one another for their spot electricity trading services in the European Economic Area (EEA). Such behaviour breaches EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive practices. Power exchanges are organized markets for trading electricity. Spot trading means trading in the short run, such as within the same day or for the next day. NPS and EPEX received a fine reduction of 10% each for agreeing to settle the case with the Commission.

Commission Vice President in charge of competition policy Joaquín Almunia said: “Power exchanges are central to an efficient functioning of electricity markets. In times when most European consumers are concerned by their rising electricity bills, I am particularly satisfied that we have brought to an end the market sharing agreement between EPEX and Nord Pool Spot." (see also statement).

The infringement took place in the context of discussions to establish the Internal Energy Market (IEM), a Commission initiative aimed at fully integrating national electricity markets. When exploring a joint approach on the technical systems to be used for cross-border trade, EPEX and NPS also agreed not to compete with each other and to allocate European territories between them. These agreements extended well beyond the legitimate purpose of the cooperation related to creating the IEM. The companies clearly breached Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement, which prohibit cartels. They committed this infringement on their own initiative and at their own risk.

The infringement lasted for at least seven months in 2011-2012, ending when the Commission and the EFTA Surveillance Authority carried out unannounced inspections at the companies' premises. The anticompetitive contacts took the form of physical meetings, telephone and video calls and e-mails.

Fines

The fines were set on the basis of the Commission's 2006 Guidelines on fines (see IP/06/857 and MEMO/06/256).

In setting the level of fines, the Commission took into account the power exchanges' value of sales for the services concerned within the EEA, the very serious nature of the infringement, the geographic scope and duration of the cartel. The fines cannot exceed 10% of the annual worldwide turnover of the companies before the settlement reduction. Under the Commission's 2008 Settlement Notice, the Commission reduced the fines imposed on both companies by 10% as they acknowledged their participation in the infringement and their liability. Thanks to the settlement procedure, the investigation was concluded within two years of the Commission's inspections in February 2012.

The fines imposed for the cartel are:

The Commission also adopted a decision today (5 March) concerning the Romanian power exchange OPCOM (see IP/14/214).

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