WRITTEN QUESTION E-2114/00 by Luis Berenguer Fuster (PSE) to the Commission. Impact of State aid to Spanish electricity companies: real competition on the generation market.
Date: 2000-06-30
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Spain, control of State aid, electrical industry, intra-EU trade, liberalisation of the market, restriction on competition

C 72 E/178

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

6.3.2001

(2001/C 72 E/228)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2114/00

by Luis Berenguer Fuster (PSE) to the Commission

(30 June 2000)

Subject: Impact of State aid to Spanish electricity companies: real competition on the generation market

In its report on the Uni(cid:243)n Fenosa-HidrocantÆbrico merger the Spanish Competition Court maintains that,
because it allows CTCs (costs of transition to competition) to be securitised by being transferred to third
parties, the CTC system adopted by Spain removes the disincentive that presently serves to ensure that the
wholesale market price does not rise above a given level.

Does the Commission believe that securitisation of CTCs, which amounts to de facto recognition of a fixed
volume of CTCs regardless of the effects of market variables over time, rules out the possibility of
controlling wholesale market prices?

Given that, as the Spanish competition authority acknowledges, there is no real competition on the
Spanish electricity generation market, does the Commission not consider that securitisation of CTCs is
simply tantamount to abandonment of the only means of controlling the market power that companies
wield over the wholesale electricity market price?

Does it not believe that securitisation of CTCs as proposed under the Spanish system will, to all practical
intents and purposes, prevent genuine competition from being introduced on to the market?

What does the Commission think about the fact that, according to the findings of the Spanish Competition
Court, the wholesale market price increased by 20 % in the first four months of the year?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(8 September 2000)

The three first questions that the Honourable Member asks concern (cid:145)securitisation(cid:146) or the possibility of
transferring to third parties the right to receive aid to cover the costs of transition to competition (CTC).

This possibility is one of the set of measures provided for in the Spanish law on the electricity sector.
These measures are currently being examined by the Commission in the light of the EC Treaty provisions
on State aid. It would be premature to comment on any of these measures before the Commission adopts
a decision on this matter.

As to the Honourable Member(cid:146)s fourth question, the Commission cannot state, on the basis of the
information at its disposal, that the prices on the Spanish electricity market are determined exclusively by
the existence of CTCs or, even less, by their possible securitisation, which is not yet a reality.

(2001/C 72 E/229)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2115/00

by Luis Berenguer Fuster (PSE) to the Commission

(30 June 2000)

Subject: Quantification of the costs of transition to competition (CTCs) for the Spanish electricity industry

in the procedure initiated by the Commission

On 28 September 1998 the Spanish Electricity Commission, now incorporated into the National Energy
Commission, drew up a public report in which it advised the Spanish Government not to adopt the system
of securitising CTCs, but that recommendation has not been heeded. In its report the Spanish regulatory
body stated that the CTCs for the electricity companies would total no more than Ptas 480 000 million,