Brussels, 06/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 5 March, the European Commission imposed a fine of just over €1 million on S.C. OPCOM S.A. for abusing its dominant position in the Romanian market for facilitating electricity spot trading, in breach of EU antitrust rules.
OPCOM operates the only power exchange in Romania. Power exchanges are organised markets for trading electricity. Spot trading means trading in the short run (e.g. within the same day or for the next day). The Commission found that OPCOM discriminated against EU-based electricity traders from outside Romania for over five years.
EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia commented: “OPCOM's abusive behaviour prevented EU traders from joining the Romanian power exchange's spot markets, creating an artificial barrier to entry in breach of EU competition rules. National barriers of this type do not only hamper the completion of a single market in energy, but also stand in the way of the development of efficient, liquid markets.” The Commission also holds OPCOM's parent company CNTEE Transelectrica S.A. (Transelectrica) liable for the infringement. Transelectrica is the operator of the Romanian electricity transmission system.
The Commission has recently decided on another antitrust investigation involving power exchanges (see EUROPE 11032). (LC)