The National Market and Competition Commission (CNMC) has opened an investigation into various operators active in the Spanish energy sector for possible anti-competitive practices.
The body chaired by Cani Fernández has made the decision after detecting signs of these practices during a series of inspections that its technicians carried out between November 28 and December 2 of this year, that is, a couple of weeks ago. , after receiving various complaints.
The CNMC does not confirm, for the moment, who the investigated companies are or the type of anti-competitive practices they could be carrying out. The competition regulator explains that these inspections "are a preliminary step in the investigation process of the alleged anti-competitive practices and do not prejudge the outcome of the investigation."
If the existence of these anti-competitive practices in this market is confirmed, they could constitute a violation of articles 1 and 2 of the Law for the Defense of Competition and 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, as indicated by the agency. It would be then when a disciplinary file would be formally opened that would already, yes, identify those companies.
The CNMC has recalled that anti-competitive practices and abuses of a dominant position constitute a very serious infringement of competition law, which can lead to fines of up to 10% of the total turnover of the offending companies in the year immediately prior to the imposition of the fine.
It is unknown if the companies investigated belong to the gas or electricity sector. The truth is that since last November the Government and consumer associations more actively recommended contracting the regulated gas tariff (TUR), the tensions between consumers and companies have worsened.
The CNMC itself assured that it would carefully monitor the way in which the marketers provided this service. Even the Minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, assured at the beginning of November that it was unreasonable that there were problems in contracting that rate and that the Government would also investigate the practices of regulated gas trading companies.
In any case, it is unknown if the investigation announced this Wednesday by the CNMC is related to gas or electric companies.
