Burckhard Bergmann, the chairman of E.ON Ruhrgas - the German-based gas arm of the E.ON group - has robustly defended his firm's actions during last winter amid criticism of European gas firms from UK energy regulator Ofgem.
<p>Reuters reports the comments from Mr Bergmann as the European Commission launches spot raids on the offices of a number of European utilities amid fears of anticompetitive practices.<br /><br />UK gas and power market regulator Ofgem has accused European gas suppliers such as E.ON Ruhrgas of deliberately maintaining the high prices seen in the UK by refusing to use import pipelines to their full capacity.<br /><br />However Mr Bergmann rejects such allegations: We…greatly supported UK gas supply, which was affected by considerable bottlenecks. This showed two things: First, cross-border integration of an international group like E.ON worked by ensuring supply security for all customers…Second, a high gas price alone does not mobilize gas volumes in the short run, Reuters quoted him as saying.</p>