Rotterdam,
26
June
2015
|
15:00
Europe/Amsterdam

Eneco wishes to hold talks with politicians regarding imminent unbundling

Legal proceedings unbundling continue

The Dutch Supreme Court today issued a ruling on the forced unbundling of Dutch energy companies.

The Supreme Court ruled that the Independent Network Management Act (Wet Onafhankelijk Netbeheer (WON)) does not conflict with European legislation. Judgement on infringement of property rights, which Eneco and Delta appealed against, is referred back by the Supreme Court to the Court of Appeal in Amsterdam. Consequently, the outcome of this long-running case is still uncertain.

For various reasons, unbundling of Eneco in a separate grid management and supply company is not in the interest of Eneco and the sustainable transition of the energy supply in the Netherlands. It means that the Netherlands would then be the only country in Europe in which energy companies are forced to unbundle. This would result in unfair competition as energy companies from other countries that operate in the Netherlands are not forced to split up their businesses.

Enforcing this law may lead to the sell-out of the Dutch energy companies Delta and Eneco and loss of influence over our national energy sector. Furthermore, for Eneco it will lead to a reduction to the amount of more than 400 million euros in investment opportunities such as the construction of wind farms, biomass installations and the installation of heating pipelines. It will also result in the inevitable loss of up to 1,000 jobs.

According to Eneco it is now up to the politicians to determine the usefulness and necessity of forced unbundling. Eneco has always opposed the unbundling act. 

Jeroen de Haas, chairman of the Board of Management: "The unbundling act is a political measure dating from 2006 that is now outdated. The energy market and the future energy landscape have changed significantly since the act was created and make it obsolete. The Netherlands has, nevertheless, introduced forced unbundling as the only country in Europe even though it is not a European directive. Consequently, Dutch energy companies are forced to compete with companies from other countries that are allowed to own electricity and gas networks in their own country. Sell-out and loss of influence over the Dutch energy sector are imminent. This should be prevented by the national government.”
Jeroen de Haas, voorzitter Raad van Bestuur Eneco Groep