EDF offices raided in price-fixing fears

teddyco

I spotted this article in the Times today.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/utilities/article5887695.ece?Submitted=true

Do you think maybe OFGEM was wrong when it did not find any evidence of price fixing among the major energy companies in 2008?:rolleyes:

Premier_2

Probably not.

Ofgem were looking into whether there was any evidence of price fixing within the UK market.

This report involves suggestions of price fixing in the French electricity market.

teddyco

We shall see........

1carminestocky

Investigators from the European Commission have raided the offices of Électricit! de France (EDF) seeking evidence of price-fixing in the French electricity market.

Wooohooo...way to go:beer: Somehow can't imagine OFGEM being up to the rough and tumble of this sort of genuine action, can you?

To use a Porridge analogy, I see the Big 6 as Fletcher and Ofgem as Barraclough.




The face of Ofgem?

1carminestocky

Premier wrote: »

Probably not.

Ofgem were looking into whether there was any evidence of price fixing within the UK market.

This report involves suggestions of price fixing in the French electricity market.

I'm not convinced this will be contained within France, though. I think what Ofgem 'found' is largely irrelevant in the grand scheme of this investigation. As Sir Alex often says, this is squeaky bum time if anyone HAS been less than snow white...

Europe's antitrust authority is already engaged in an extensive inquiry into the European energy market, an investigation that was launched in 2007 into the gas and power sectors, where the Commission believes that major players are dragging their heels in the implementation of EU directives requiring that dominant companies open up their markets to rivals.

The Commission said today that the inquiry had enabled it "to gain an in-depth understanding of the functioning, and in some respects, the malfunctioning of the energy sector".

The competition authority has conducted numerous raids on the premises of big utilities, including EDF and E.ON, the leading German competitor, and has started infringement proceedings against several countries, including France, over regulated tariff structures that are believed to discriminate against smaller electricity users in favour of major clients of the utilities.

moonrakerz

1carminestocky wrote: »

To use a Porridge analogy, I see the Big 6 as Fletcher

Nah ! Grouty.....

SwanJon

1carminestocky wrote: »

I'm not convinced this will be contained within France, though. I think what Ofgem 'found' is largely irrelevant in the grand scheme of this investigation. As Sir Alex often says, this is squeaky bum time if anyone HAS been less than snow white...

But surely this is the exact thing that you are against?
EDF is a state owned (OK, 85%) utility - you regularly say this is how things should be.
However, the EC thinks that EDF are abusing their dominant posiotion as pretty much the only electricity supplier in France, and are investigating.
Eon is a regional monopoly in Germany, and so under the same scrutiny.
The British market is the most open and competetive in Europe and so this investigation is unliklely to come to our shores.

1carminestocky

Let's wait and see, shall we? As you very well know, my ideal would be a TOTALLY state-run energy industry with ONE supplier, not an 85% State run energy supplier who rides rough-shod over the minnows trying to compete.