Romania's competition body probes distribution arms of CEZ, Electrica for abusive conduct

Romania's Competition Council has launched, ex officio, two investigations into possible abusive behavior of the electricity distribution subsidiaries of Electrica and CEZ groups (Distributie Energie Electrică Romania and Distributie Energie Oltenia) by favoring the migration of customers to energy suppliers in the same group to the detriment of other suppliers.

This was in the context of the retail electricity market liberalization as of January 2021 - a controversial process that is still ongoing and has resulted in some 18% higher average prices for end-users.

The competition authority claims that it has indications regarding the involvement of the two companies in the process of changing the electricity supplier by favoring the supply companies within their groups (Electrica, respectively CEZ) to the detriment of their competitors.

"The suspected behavior has the potential to affect competition in the electricity supply market, as well the final customers of electricity. Such behavior is particularly harmful, especially in the context of the liberalization process that Romania has implemented in recent years. In fact, we are monitoring the liberalization process, and we have warned the distribution companies not to prevent the migration of customers," said Bogdan Chiritoiu, president of the Competition Council.

On April 14, the Competition Council carried out unannounced inspections at the headquarters of electricity supply and distribution companies Electrica and CEZ to gather data for the investigation.

According to the information obtained by Agerpres, several independent energy suppliers have filed complaints on this issue with both the Competition Council and ANRE.

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