The Gas and Electricity Markets Authority (the "Authority") has published its decision to accept commitments from EPEX Spot SE (and its parent company EEX) to take steps required of EPEX to enable other Nominated Electricity Market Operators, in particular Nord Pool, to participate in certain electricity trading auctions between Great Britain and Ireland; and also to carry out an internal review of its competition law training.
This is to address the competition concerns identified by the Authority in the course of its investigation into whether there was an infringement of Chapter II of the Competition Act 1998 and / or Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The investigation examined whether EPEX Spot SE, a power exchange operating in Great Britain, had abused or was abusing a dominant position in relation to access to cross-border intraday electricity trading platforms and related services between Great Britain and Ireland.
On 2 May 2019, the Authority published its notice of intention to accept commitments from EPEX and EEX in relation to this investigation. The consultation process closed on 20 May 2019. The Authority received two consultation responses, both of which were supportive of the Authority’s proposal to accept commitments.
On 18 June 2019, the Authority decided to accept commitments from EPEX Spot SE and EEX. Formal acceptance of these commitments by the Authority has resulted in our investigation being discontinued without any decision being made as to whether or not the Competition Act 1998 and/or the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union was infringed.