Sunday April 6, 08:54 PM
German energy firms deny overcharging customers
BERLIN (AFP) - Leading German electricity providers RWE (Xetra: 703712 - news) and E.ON on Sunday rejected charges that they have, along with two other energy companies, overcharged consumers to the tune of hundreds of millions of euros.
"We believe that these charges are without foundation," E.ON spokesman Christian Schneller told AFP.
"It (Frankfurt: A0MLX5 - news) is in our interest to provide energy in an efficient manner."
E.ON was reacting to a report that Germany's electricity market regulator, BNE, had opened a probe into allegations that the country's four main energy companies had overcharged customers by up to 800 million euros (1.3 billion dollars) in 2006 and 2007.
The investigation targets E.ON, RWE, Vattenfall Europe (Xetra: 601200 - news) and EnBW, Der Spiegel magazine said in report to appear Monday.
It involved the alleged manipulation of electricity reserves made available to compensate for inter-network fluctuations related to demand or production, the magazine reported.
Smaller energy provider Lichtblick on Sunday confirmed it had instigated the probe with a complaint that the four companies failed to cooperate to compensate for fluctuations and spare consumers unnecessary costs.
A spokesman for RWE Transportnetz Strom, the affiliate that handles energy distribution to the company's clients, said the argument "was in part completely false and patently refutable."
He said it had been necessary to divide Germany into four energy zones, each served by one of the big providers, "in order to assure the greatest possible energy supply stability."
The carve-up was essential because otherwise major blackouts in one area would risk plunging the whole of Germany into darkness, the spokesman added.
He gave the example of a major power cut in November (Frankfurt: A0S9N7 - news) 2006, arguing that it would have had far worse consequences without this arrangement.
Lichtblick, which specialises in renewable energy, has asked the BNE to force the four major competitors to reimburse clients for the unnecessary charges.
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