19 Lawsuits Files Against ANRE"s Decision On Electricity Market

A.T.

The National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) stated in their Annual Activity Report 2008 that 13 energy companies had contested various decisions and orders issued by the president of ANRE in the Bucharest Court of Appeal last year. The 13 plaintiffs are Electrocentrale - Bucharest, Neg-New Energy, Neg Teren SRL, Termoelectrica, SC FDFEE Transilvania Sud SA, SC FDFEE Transilvania Nord SA, the Bucharest City Hall, SC Electrica Muntenia Nord SA, SC Petprod SRL, AMEREM, the Deva Local Council, the Class Pipera Association and SC Apaterm - Galati. The plaintiffs filed a total of 19 lawsuits contesting various orders and decisions issued by ANRE. The Bucharest Court of Appeal dismissed ten of them as groundless, while the others are still being tried.

According to the report, ANRE was also sued by four companies contesting various fines for misdemeanours (SC FDFEE Electrica Muntenia Sud, SC OPCOM SA, SC Electro-Sind-Service SRL, SC Enel Distributie). Additionally, five complaints were filed in court, which ruled in ANRE"s favour in one case and is still trying the other four.

Regarding natural gas regulatory activities, the committee appointed to investigate and rule on refusals to allow network access received three complaints in 2008. The network access denial was justified in one case. In the other two, the commission established that Transgaz and Distrigaz Sud Retele had violated network access regulations. In the course of last year, ANRE was a party to 37 legal cases related to natural gas, most of them concerning labour litigations, complaints and administrative litigations.