BETWEEN GASUNIE, THE LANDBOUWSCHAP AND VEGIN WAS FULLY JUSTIFIED IN COMMERCIAL TERMS AND THAT IT THEREFORE CONTAINS NO ELEMENT OF AID WITHIN THE MEANING OF ARTICLE 92 .
40 IN ASSSESSING THE MERITS OF THAT ASSERTION, IT SHOULD BE RECALLED THAT BY PLACING A CEILING OF 42.5 CENTS/M3 ON THE GAS PRICE FOR GROWERS THE TARIFF HAD THE EFFECT OF BRINGING THE GAS PRICE SEVERAL CENTS BELOW THE PRICE WHICH WOULD HAVE RESULTED FROM THE APPLICATION OF THE TARIFF IN FORCE UNTIL 1 OCTOBER 1984 . AS THE AGENT OF THE COMMISSION EXPLAINED AT THE HEARING, THE GAS PRICE WOULD, UNDER THE PREVIOUS TARIFF, HAVE REACHED AN AVERAGE OF 48.5 CENTS/M3 DURING THE FIRST THREE QUARTERS OF 1985 .
41 THE APPLICANTS CLAIM THAT THE DECISION TO LIMIT THE RISE IN THE GAS PRICE CAUSED BY THE RISE IN THE PRICE OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS WAS JUSTIFIED LARGELY BY THE NEED TO GUARD AGAINST THE RISK THAT GROWERS MIGHT CONVERT THEIR HEATING PLANTS TO COAL, THE PRICE OF WHICH HAD RECENTLY FALLEN CONSIDERABLY . THAT RISK HAD, ACCORDING TO THE APPLICANTS, FORCED GASUNIE TO FIX THE CEILING PRICE FOR GAS AT A LEVEL WHICH WOULD TAKE ACCOUNT OF COMPETITION FROM COAL .
42 WITHOUT CHALLENGING THE ARGUMENT REGARDING THE RISK OF CONVERSION TO COAL AS SUCH, THE COMMISSION NOTES IN ITS DECISION THAT THE SAME RISK ARISES FOR OTHER SECTORS, SUCH AS INDUSTRY, WHICH ARE HEAVILY DEPENDENT ON GAS . YET NO MEASURES WERE TAKEN TO MODERATE THE PRICE OF GAS FOR INDUSTRY IN A MANNER COMPARABLE TO THE CEILING PRICE ESTABLISHED FOR HORTICULTURE . THAT DIFFERENCE IN TREATMENT BETWEEN INDUSTRY AND HORTICULTURE DEMONSTRATES, ACCORDING TO THE COMMISSION, THAT THE CONTESTED TARIFF IS NOT JUSTIFIED BY THE DESIRE TO RESIST COMPETITION FROM COAL .
43 THAT ARGUMENT IS IRRELEVANT .
44 IT SHOULD BE BORNE IN MIND THAT, ACCORDING TO THE COMMISSION ITSELF ( PARAGRAPH 6 OF SECTION III OF DECISION 85/215 ), AT A PRICE FOR GAS OF BETWEEN 46.5 AND 47.5 CENTS/M3 "IT IS ESTIMATED THAT 30% OF THE NATURAL GAS CONSUMED BY THE HORTICULTURAL SECTOR WOULD BE REPLACED BY COAL IN LESS THAN THREE YEARS ". IT FOLLOWS FROM THAT FINDING BY THE COMMISSION THAT, LEAVING ASIDE THE QUESTION WHETHER AND TO WHAT EXTENT THERE WAS A RISK OF CONVERSION TO COAL IN THE INDUSTRIAL SECTOR AS WELL, GASUNIE COULD NOT, ON ACCOUNT OF THAT RISK, HAVE APPLIED GENERALLY A GAS PRICE FOR HORTICULTURE ABOVE THE THRESHOLD FIGURE INDICATED BY THE COMMISSION, 46.5 TO 47.5 CENTS/M3 .
45 IN ITS DECISION THE COMMISSION ALSO CONTENDS THAT THE CEILING PRICE FOR GAS UNDER THE DISPUTED TARIFF, NAMELY 42.5 CENTS/M3, IS BELOW THE LEVEL NEEDED IN ORDER TO GUARD AGAINST THE RISK OF CONVERSION TO COAL IN THE HORTICULTURAL SECTOR .
46 IN THAT CONNECTION IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THE FIGURES GIVEN IN BOTH THE REPORT OF THE LANDBOUW-ECONOMISCH INSTITUUT ( INSTITUTE FOR AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY, HEREINAFTER REFERRED TO AS THE "LEI "), PREPARED IN JANUARY 1985 AND ANNEXED TO