The Antitrust moves against the energy giants. The Competition and Market Authority has launched seven preliminary proceedings – and decided to adopt as many precautionary measures – against the main electricity and natural gas supplier companies on the free market, which represent around 80% of the market. The proposals to change the price of electricity and natural gas supply and the subsequent proposals to renew the contractual conditions, which would conflict with the measures of the Aid bis decree, have ended up under the Authority’s scrutiny.
The clauses
The regulation suspends, from 10 August to 30 April 2023, the effectiveness of both the contractual clauses that allow sales companies to change the supply price and the related notice communications, unless the price changes have already been finalized before of the entry into force of the decree itself.
The others under accusation
These interventions, explains the authority in a note, are in addition to the four preliminary investigations and the same number of precautionary measures adopted against the companies Iren, Dolomiti, E.On and Iberdrola and follow an extensive pre-investigation activity carried out against 25 companies, from which it emerged that around half of the operators concerned complied with the law by avoiding changes to the economic conditions – after 10 August 2022 – or by revoking the illegally applied increases.
The disputes
The seven companies are challenged for not suspending the communications proposing unilateral modification of the economic conditions, sent before 10 August 2022 and, subsequently, the proposals for updating or renewing the supply prices, of a pejorative nature, justified on the basis of the alleged expiry of fixed-price offers. Acea is also challenged for the alleged effectiveness of the communications of unilateral modification of the supply price because they were sent before the entry into force of the Aid bis Decree (10 August 2022) and not “completed” before the same date. Based on the data provided by the companies themselves, it appears that consumers, condominiums and micro-enterprises affected by communications of changes in economic conditions are 7,546,963, of which approximately 2,667,127 have already suffered an unjustified price increase.
The new conditions
The companies will therefore have to suspend the application of the new economic conditions, maintaining or restoring the prices practiced before 10 August 2022 and, moreover, they will have to communicate to the Authority the measures they will adopt in this regard. Within seven days, companies will be able to defend themselves and the Authority will be able to confirm or not the precautionary measures.