Brussels, 30/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has agreed to the request of Belgium's Ministry for Economic Affairs by sending back to Belgian authorities for review the case concerning the agreement between Intercommunale d'Electricité du Hainaut (IEH) and Electrabel for the provision of electricity to eligible customers. Eligible customers are those who, on the basis of their total electricity use, are free to choose their supplier. Within the context of liberalisation of the Belgian market, the mixed intermunicipal companies, which are partners with the incumbent operator Electrabel, must divest themselves of their activity of electricity supply to eligible customers who have not yet chosen their supplier ("default" provision of electricity). Under an agreement between Electrabel and the mixed intermunicipal companies, the latter will cede the activity to Electrabel and, in exchange, will acquire a financial interest in the Electrabel subsidiary that will provide electricity to eligible customers. This legal obligation was given effect in a dozen operations, half of which come within the competence of the Belgian competition authorities, who concluded that three of them strengthen Electrabel's dominant position on the market for the supply of electricity to eligible customers. The deals were therefore banned.
Although the operation between Electrabel and IEH came within its competence owing to the size of IEH, the Commission decided, as a means of ensuring greater consistency and given the strictly national nature of the operation, to send the case back to the Belgian authorities for review, after having concluded that there is a real danger of a strengthening of Electrabel's dominant position in Belgium.