The Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) adopted a decision imposing property sanctions on “Toplofikatsiya Sofia“ EAD and “Energy Market“ AD. The sanctions are for violation of the prohibition on manipulation of the wholesale energy market under Regulation (EU) No. 1227/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency (REMIT), the energy regulator announced.
At a closed session, the Commission accepted that the two companies had acted by prior agreement, which is a prohibited market practice within the meaning of REMIT. They concluded transactions at prices and for quantities significantly deviating from market levels in the period November 2020 - January 2021 on the market segment “Within the day“ of the Bulgarian Independent Energy Exchange.
It has been established that “Toplofikatsiya Sofia“ EAD sold electricity to “Energy Market“ AD at prices below market prices, through block and hourly products. These actions led to the submission of misleading signals to the market regarding the price of wholesale energy products, which constitutes a violation of the prohibition of market manipulation pursuant to Art. 5 of Regulation (EU) No. 1227/2011. In accordance with the Methodology for determining sanctions and fines imposed under Art. 224d of the Energy Act, each of the two companies was imposed a property sanction in the amount of 53,969.86 euros, KEWR stated.
The decision of the energy regulator is subject to appeal before the Administrative Court of Sofia - City within 14 days of its notification.
The current decision of the KEWR is the fifth in a row to impose property sanctions for market manipulation within the meaning of REMIT.
The Commission continues to actively work on other initiated proceedings to establish possible violations of the prohibition of manipulation of the wholesale energy market and/or trading with inside information. The regulator's goal is to effectively prevent abuses by market participants who carry out manipulative transactions on the organized markets for trading in wholesale energy products and derive unlawful profits.