September 18 (SeeNews) - Romania's competition authority said on Wednesday it has fined natural gas distributor Premier Energy with 1.3 million euro ($1.44 million) for abuse of dominant position.
The Competition Council has found that Premier Energy, as legal successor to Gaz Sud SRL, has abused its dominant position in the areas where it held distribution licences, it said in a statement.
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During its investigation initiated in 2017 the competition authority found that Gas Sud had imposed discriminatory prices of various services depending on whether consumers carried out projects with Gaz Sud or contracted other operators.
The company benefited a 15% reduction in the fine for admitting wrongdoing. At the same time, it paid 88,347 lei ($20,588/18,493 euro) in damages to affected consumers.
Premier Energy was established in 2007 as Petrom Distributie Gaze SRL and was controlled by Romanian oil and gas group OMV Petrom at that time. In 2013, Cyprus-based Ligatne Ltd took control of the company from OMV Petrom. The group of companies which includes Premier Energy operates on the natural gas distribution and supply markets.
(1 euro=4.7773 Romanian lei)