The Competition Council announced that it has carried out unannounced inspections at E-Distribution Muntenia (formerly Enel Distributie Muntenia) and at the premises of four companies that design and execute electrical connection installations: Electrical Power Consulting SRL, Simco International Impex SRL, Institute of Studies And Power Engineering – ISPE SA and Energy Services Muntenia SA.
“The inspections were carried out as part of the investigation regarding a possible abuse of dominant position of the electricity distribution operator, E-Distribution Muntenia, in the area for which it holds a license issued by ANRE, with effects also on the market of related services, such as design of solution, and execution of connection facilities”, reads a press release from the institution.
“The Competition Council carried out an unannounced inspection regarding the grid connection process in the area of responsibility of E-Distribution Muntenia. The company fully cooperates with the competent authority, providing all the requested documents and information. At this preliminary stage, we can not make any further comments”, stated for energynomics.ro representatives of E-Distribution Muntenia.
Thus, the competition authority suspects that E-Distribution Muntenia would discriminate some companies providing related services by selecting operators on criteria other than those provided by the legislation in force. In this way, consumers could also be affected by EDM influencing the technical solutions proposed to users, the duration and cost of grid connection process, and the users’ opportunity to choose the service providers.
Unannounced inspections are authorized by the Bucharest Court of Appeal and are justified by the need to obtain all the information and documents necessary to clarify the possible anticompetitive practice under consideration. Documents raised during the inspections are in the analysis of the Romanian competition authority, within the procedures specific to the investigation.
Unannounced inspections are a preliminary stage of the investigation and they do not represent a point of view or a decision from the Competition Council as regarding the existence of a violation of the Competition Law, the press release states.
