Energy prices - Abuse of price brakes? Cartel watchdogs investigate
Have individual energy suppliers applied for too much relief from the state in the price brakes? The Federal Cartel Office had already initiated several proceedings in the first half of the year as part of its abuse supervision. Today, the authority announced that there are now 57 investigations. Gas accounted for 23 proceedings, district heating and electricity for 17 each. The authority did not disclose which companies were involved.
The total volume of these proceedings is around two billion euros. Measured against the relief amounts applied for in the period under review, this is a good 15 percent of the total relief applied for for gas and heat and around 20 percent for electricity.
The price brakes for electricity, gas and district heating will remain in place until the end of the year. They cap the costs for consumers for a large part of their energy costs. In return, the energy companies are entitled to relief payments. The companies whose invoices are being scrutinized by the Cartel Office may have overstated their costs and therefore demanded too much money from the state coffers.
Authority issues warnings
"We are singling out conspicuous cases from the large number of applications from suppliers," explained Andreas Mundt, President of the Cartel Office. The most important criteria are outliers in the working price or a combination of a high working price and a large volume of relief requested. "The companies have to explain their pricing to us. If this does not match, we first issue a warning". According to a spokesperson, this has already happened in several cases.
"The suppliers then have the opportunity to recalculate and adjust their behavior if necessary," said Mundt. The authority will only make a final assessment of the cases after the final invoices have been issued from next year. "If, even after the final investigations, there is an abuse of the relief rules, we will sanction this and, if necessary, order refunds to the state."
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Source: www.stern.de
