December 30 (SeeNews) - Romania's competition authority said on Monday it has fined natural gas distributor Distrigaz Sud Retele with 17.65 million lei ($4.14 million/3.7 million euro) for abuse of dominant position.
The Competition Council has found that Distrigaz Sud held a monopoly on the natural gas distribution market in the areas in which it owned operating licences, namely Bucharest and towns in 19 different counties, the anti-trust body said in a press release.
In the course of an investigation started in 2017 the competition authority has found that between 2011 and 2012, Distrigaz Sud imposed excessive and economically unjustified fees for the technical approval of gas installations. As Distrigaz Sud was the only provider of these services in the mentioned period, consumers could not choose another operator.
Distrigaz Sud is owned by French multinational electric utility company Engie and manages a 20,000 km network of gas pipelines encompassing over 20 Romanian counties. It serves over 1.9 million customers and has 2,600 employees.
(1 euro=4.7785 Romanian lei)
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