RO competition body suspects CEZ, Electrica impeded customers from changing suppliers

Romania's Competition Council has carried out unannounced inspections at the headquarters of electricity supply and distribution companies Electrica and CEZ, suspecting anti-competitive practices aimed at preventing the migration of consumers from one supplier to another, in the context of market liberalization, according to sources in the energy sector.

"The two companies are suspected of blocking the migration of consumers to other suppliers in the market. One of the practices would have been to threaten the consumers through the distribution companies from the Electrica group, respectively CEZ, that the power supply interruptions would no longer be solved timely. Another practice would have been [discriminatory] offers for consumers who would have wanted to change supplier," the sources said.

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

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