Lisbon, Sept. 4, 2024 (Lusa) - ERSE - Portugal's energy services regulator - ordered SU Eletricidade to pay a fine of €90,000, which it later reduced to €45,000, for several offences committed by the last resort supplier.
The regulator considered that SU Eletricidade, owned by diversified energy producer, EDP, had committed "offences related to the non-disclosure of information on its website, the provision of information to customers, non-compliance with the notice period for reducing contracted power and non-compliance with the regulatory procedure for changing electricity suppliers".
However, "in the context of the settlement procedure proposed by the company under the Energy Sector Sanctions Regime, and taking into account the economic situation of the defendant, its cooperation during the inquiry phase, the demonstration of the cessation of the practice of offences and the commitment to correct the others and the award of compensation, ERSE's Board of Directors reduced the fine to €45,000," the body said.
The regulator explained that "the opening of the infringement procedure followed an investigation carried out by ERSE into the provision of information to customers via the internet" and that, during this investigation, "elements were collected which indicated that the defendant had committed infringements".
"In the course of the investigation, ERSE requested information from the defendant, and SU Eletricidade was found to have committed a number of offences," it said.
The regulator found that several duties had been breached and that, during the period in which it was entitled to make a statement, SU Eletricidade submitted "a proposal for a settlement recognising the facts contained in the note of unlawfulness and its responsibility, making itself available to pay the fine and compensation totalling €25,680.83".
ERSE recalled that the settlement procedure is "enshrined in the Energy Sector Sanctioning Regime and can be proposed, within the scope of a fineable offence procedure, before the notice of offence has been served or, once it has been served, within the deadline for the defendant to submit its statement".
This procedure "depends on the defendant confessing to the facts alleged and acknowledging its responsibility for the offence in question, forgoing legal proceedings and benefiting from a reduction in the fine", and ERSE has "also imposed compensation for affected consumers as a condition for accepting the settlement, where appropriate", it said.
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