Transelectrica and the OPSPI forgot to show up for the lawsuit of Dimofte

Transelectrica was sued by one of its shareholders, Tudor Dimofte, who is disputing the switch from the single to the dual management system. At the end of November, the court set the hearing for December 11th, to allow the plaintiff (Tudor Dimofte) to acknowledge the response filed by Transelectrica SA, as well as the requests for intervention filed on behalf of the company by the Ministry of the Economy through the OPSPI and by the Proprietatea Fund (a significant minority shareholder, who supports the switch to the dual management system).

Except, that, at yesterday's hearing, the lawyers of Transelectrica and those of the OPSPI were not present, sources from within the company say. Apparently, they forgot to show up in court, just as they were supposed to defend the switch to the dual management system, the quoted sources also say.

Sources from the management of Transelectrica told us, however, that the company's lawyers filed documents and their physical presence in the court room was not necessary.

Whether they did forget they were due to appear in court or not is irrelevant. If the court will rule in favor of shareholder Tudor Dimofte, then the switch to the dual management system will be invalidated, as well as all the decisions made by the Current Supervisory Board and the Directorate. Some of the shareholders are unhappy with the situation, and are saying that Transelectrica should have waited for the ruling of the court before changing the management system.

Yesterday, the court postponed the ruling on the lawsuit filed by Tudor Dimofte until January 18th.

The annulment of the switch to the dual management system in the middle of the winter would be extremely risky for the safety of our energy system. This year, Transelectrica was shaken by repeated changes in its management, and was constantly dominated by temporariness.

The European Commission has launched an antitrust procedure against OPCOM and Transelectrica

• OPCOM claims it has found solutions for the problem

The European Commission (EC) yesterday announced that it is investigating whether OPCOM (the operator of the Romanian energy market) and Transelectrica (the company which OPCOM is part of) block the access of the foreign electricity traders to our centralized market. According to Reuters, the European Commission issued a press release concerning the opening of the antitrust procedure, in which it is investigating whether the OPCOM is abusing its dominant position.

The EC us reviewing whether the OPCOM is discriminating against companies due to their nationality or to the location where they operate by requiring all participants on the spot market to have a Romanian VAT number and as a consequence, to have their headquarters in Romania. This would increase the cost of foreign traders participating on the energy market and could discourage them from entering our market.

The EU executive has informed OPCOM SA and Transelectrica SA, as well as the Romanian competition authority that it has begun a proceeding in this matter.

The leaders of the OPCOM comment: "This topic is known and it still remains the object of our actions together with the national authorities involved as well as with the representatives of the Association of Energy Suppliers which are active on the managed electricity markets. Through this cooperation framework, we have identified several possible solutions. The analyses which we conducted led to the identification of a solution which has the potential to be viable and which would maintain the effectiveness of the trading mechanisms for the spot and intraday market".

The representatives of OPCOM also say that at the present time, steps are being taken to create the necessary conditions for the implementation within the briefest delays of the solution that would respond to the expectations of all the participants in the market, eliminating any constructions of discrimination.

The OPCOM assures all the participants to the managed markets as well as all interested parties that the trading process is not affected in any way by this procedure opened by the European Commission.

According to Agerpres, the requirement of the OPCOM for foreign traders violates article 102 of the Treaty for the Functioning of the European Union. The opening of the antitrust procedure does not mean a preliminary ruling, only that the CE will make a thorough investigation. Article 102 of the Treaty prohibits the abuse of dominant market position which can affect trade between member states. The implementation of this provision is defined by the Antitrust rule, which can be applied by the Commission and by the national competition authorities of the EU member states. (A.T)