MADRID (Reuters) – Spain is investigating 35 companies over potential abuses in the wholesale electricity market, a spokesperson for antitrust watchdog CNMC said on Monday.
The CNMC is looking into potential breaches of rules protecting the integrity and transparency of European wholesale energy markets, known as REMIT.
Newspaper El Pais reported that electricity retailers are suspected of taking advantage of subsidised natural gas for power plants to resell electricity to France at higher prices.
However, the CNMC spokesperson said that the probe deals with “a minor technical issue related to the electricity market and does not have to do with the gas cap directly”, declining to provide additional detail.
The authority opened the investigation on March 16 and has up to 18 months to make a decision.
(Reporting by Pietro Lombardi; editing by Inti Landauro and Jason Neely)
