The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has supported this Thursday that the national energy regulatory authorities can impose on electric companies the return to their customers of the amounts that have been received failing to comply with the demands relating to consumer protection.
The ruling states that consumer protection is, in effect, one of the obligations of said authorities, as is the case of the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) in Spain.
The Court of Justice therefore concludes that the Member States may assign to these authorities the competence to require operators to refund amounts that they have received in breach of the requirements relating to consumer protection, in particular those relating to the obligations of transparency and correct invoicing.
It also points out that since consumer protection and compliance with transparency obligations are part of the obligations of these regulatory authorities, it is not relevant what is the exact reason why an electric company is ordered to make the reimbursement to Your clients.
Related news
The sentence comes after in 2019, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks and the Environment of Italy imposed a fine of 655,000 euros on Green Network, an Italian electricity and natural gas distribution company, for breaching the obligations of transparency of tariffs and demanded that he return to his clients an amount of almost 14 million euros that he had invoiced them for administration expenses based on a clause considered illegal by this authority.
After unsuccessfully challenging the previous decision through contentious-administrative proceedings, Green Network filed a appeal before the Italian Council of State, which raised the query to the CJEU, which has now supported the capacity of these national authorities for the purposes of consumer protection.