The National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) has imposed a fine of one million euros on Enérgya VM Gestión de Energía, the electricity and gas distributor of the Villar Mir group, for manipulation of the organized gas market (Mibgas) between September 1 and December 31, 2022.
The body chaired by Cani Fernández indicated this Monday that the company’s operations aimed “illegitimately” to raise the market price to an artificial level by inserting purchase offers that it had no intention of matching.
Specifically, the CNMC highlighted that during 32 trading sessions, it presented purchase offers at high prices in the last seven seconds of trading.
According to the agency, these were not modifications to previous offers that it was trying to execute in the last seconds of the negotiation, nor to attack the most competitive sales offer at that moment in the negotiation system, since it had introduced them at a slightly lower price –in some sessions only 0.02 euros/MWh below— to avoid them getting married.
Furthermore, these purchase offers were introduced for a volume of energy “much lower” than the volume of the rest of the purchase offers of Enérgya VM Gestión de Energía during the same market session.
The aim was to reduce the economic impact of high-priced offers in the event that they were matched and, in some sessions, against economic logic, since they were introduced at a price higher than that of the last transaction executed by the agent as a selling counterparty for the same product and during the same trading session.
The introduction of false or misleading signals regarding the supply, demand or price of a wholesale energy product, as well as the fixing of the price of a wholesale energy product at an artificial level, constitutes manipulative behaviour or attempted market manipulation, which violates Article 5 of EU Regulation No 1227/2011 of 25 October 2011 (Reference).
The infringement committed by Enérgya VM Gestión de Energía is classified as serious, in accordance with the provisions of article 110 u) of Law 34/1998 of October 7 on the hydrocarbons sector.
