CNC Opens Investigation Proceedings Against Several Companies in the Iberdrola Group

The Investigations Division of Spain's antitrust authority, the Comisión Nacional de la Competencia (the "CNC"), has brought proceedings against several companies in the Iberdrola Group for possible anti-competitive conduct.  The companies are accused of anti-competitive behaviour by transferring consumers from the "last recourse" distributor to the free market distributor without obtaining the express consent of the consumer as required by industry regulations.

By way of background, the so called "last recourse" consumers are those consumers that benefit from a legally fixed pricing tariff by the Government because they do not attain certain levels of consumption.  However, those "last recourse" consumers must be able to freely choose to continue being supplied by the legally fixed tariff or to join the free market.