As a principle on which Enel’s practices are based, clause 3.30 of the Code of Ethicsstates that the Enel Group shall “fully and scrupulously observe the antitrust rules and the resolutions of market’s regulatory authorities”. In order to achieve this objective, subsidiaries are obliged to inform Enel SpA’s Institutional Affairs department of all initiatives with antitrust significance they undertake. Enel SpA’s Institutional Affairs department shall provide guidelines regarding antitrust policy. Furthermore, Institutional Affairs shall provide the necessary assistance to the management.
Furthermore, Enel shall not deny, hide, manipulate or delay any information requested by the Antitrust Authority and other regulatory bodies in their supervisory duties and shall cooperate actively during investigative procedures. Also, in order to ensure the utmost transparency, Enel undertakes to not become involved with employees of any Authority or members of their families in situations where there is a conflict of interests.
In Italy, during 2011 the Antitrust Authority did not initiate any procedure against Enel for violation of antitrust law. On the other hand, the Authority for Electricity and Gas (AEEG) issued three sanctions relating to conduct which, according to the regulator, hindered the correct functioning of the market. In particular administrative sanctions were applied for a total of 1,419,000 euro for violations linked to the supply of electricity transmission, dispatching and measurement services, delays in the switching on of the drawing points of the new default service providers(1) and failure to transmit information to the new operators (registered office of end user, tax data, etc.). As for Endesa’s operations, at the end of 2011, 5 legal cases were still outstanding relating to alleged abuses of dominant position (for example denying access to information on customers for competitors), collusive agreements with other electricity companies and the application of unfair contractual conditions for customers.
Last update: May 2012
(1) This is the service, envisaged by the Law Decree of June 18, 2007, which guarantees continuity in electricity supply to medium-size and large customers which, after the energy market liberalization, have not chosen a supplier on the free market or which, for whatever reason, have no supplier. In these cases the customers are automatically assigned to the provider of the safeguarding service. The safeguarding service is reserved for customers who have no right to the protected categories service or to non-domestic customers with low voltage supply with more than 50 employees or an annual turnover of more than 10 million euro.
