The Investigations Division of Spain's antitrust authority, the Comisión Nacional de la Competencia (the "CNC"), has brought proceedings against several companies in the Iberdrola Group for possible anti-competitive conduct. The companies are accused of anti-competitive behaviour by transferring consumers from the "last recourse" distributor to the free market distributor without obtaining the express consent of the consumer as required by industry regulations.
By way of background, the so called "last recourse" consumers are those consumers that benefit from a legally fixed pricing tariff by the Government because they do not attain certain levels of consumption. However, those "last recourse" consumers must be able to freely choose to continue being supplied by the legally fixed tariff or to join the free market.
The investigation of this anti-competitive behaviour originated with a complaint filed by the Gas Natural Fenosa Group for possible violations of competition law and, in particular, articles 2 and 3 of the Spanish Competition Act 15/2007 of 3 July 2007 ("LDC").
In its examination of the case, the Investigations Division has obtained information which points to the existence of credible evidence that Iberdrola Comercialización de Último Recurso, S.A.U., Iberdrola, S.A. and Iberdrola Generación S.A.U. have violated article 3 of the LDC through unfair trading acts that distort free competition.
The opening of these proceedings does not pre-judge the final outcome of the investigation. The decision allows a maximum period of 18 months for the case to be investigated and resolved by the CNC.
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