The commission said that 2006 inspections of the premises of Eni and its subsidiaries in Italy, Austria and Germany revealed evidence that the company could be excluding potential competitors from Italian gas supply markets.
The body said that the alleged infringement, which will be further investigated, takes the form of capacity hoarding and strategic underinvestment in the transmission system, leading to the foreclosure of competitors and harm for competition and customers in supply markets in Italy.
The regulator went on to say that the initiation of proceedings against RWE originates from information obtained during the inspection carried out in 2006 on the basis of suspicions that RWE creates unjustified obstacles to third party access on the regional wholesale market in its core area in North Rhine-Westphalia.
It is believed that RWE may have abused its dominant position in the regional markets for the transport and wholesale supply of gas in North Rhine-Westphalia by raising rivals’ costs and preventing new entrants from getting access to capacity on gas transport infrastructure in Germany.
The commission said that new entrants into gas markets need access to gas transport infrastructure in order to acquire new customers. It added that preventing new entrants from gaining access to infrastructure can hinder the development of competition in energy markets that are in the process of being liberalized.
