GERMANY: E.ON proposes to increase competition in German electricity market

E.ON has offered structural remedies to the European Commission to settle ongoing antitrust cases in the electricity sector. E.ON proposes to commit to sell its electricity transmission system network to an operator which would have no interest in the electricity generation and/or supply businesses and to commit to divest 4,800 MW of generation capacity to competitors.

The Commission intends to market test E.ON’s proposals, with a view to adopting a decision under Article 9 of regulation 1/2003. Under this procedure, the commitments would be made legally binding by al decision of the Commission and the Commission would not pursue the current antitrust cases.

The Commission has conducted a number of antitrust investigations into energy companies as a consequence of the energy sector inquiry. Inter alis, the commission has been investigating two cases against E.ON in the electricity sector.

The European Commission welcomes these proposed commitments in so far as they could remedy the concerns that it has regards E.ON. These proposals, if adopted, would structurally change the electricity sector in Germany and could spur competition in the sector to the benefit of domestic and industrial customers.

SOURCE: Scandoil