WRITTEN QUESTION E-2115/00

by Luis Berenguer Fuster (PSE) to the Commission

(30 June 2000)

Subject: Quantification of the costs of transition to competition (CTCs) for the Spanish electricity industry in the procedure initiated by the Commission

On 28 September 1998 the Spanish Electricity Commission, now incorporated into the National Energy Commission, drew up a public report in which it advised the Spanish Government not to adopt the system of securitising CTCs, but that recommendation has not been heeded. In its report the Spanish regulatory body stated that the CTCs for the electricity companies would total no more than Ptas 480 000 million,

taking into account the variable costs and useful life of generation assets, the demand trend, and the types of discount. However, the Spanish Government is seeking to grant the electricity companies the right to securitise Ptas 1 billion (in other words they would receive that amount at all once).

Will the Commission take account of the informed opinion of the Spanish regulatory body as regards the figure to be put on the CTCs?

Does the Commission not consider that the Spanish regulatory body is better placed than the Commission itself to quantify the CTCs?

Given that, in his answer of 28 March 2000 to Written Question E-0492/00(1), Mr Monti confirmed that neither the Commission nor the independent consultant whom the Commission had appointed was recalculating the Spanish CTCs, would it not be advisable, if only to enforce Article 87 of the Treaty with circumspection, for the Commission to check the calculation made by an independent body which, moreover, happens to be the Spanish market regulator?

Will the Commission accept the Ptas 1 billion in State operating aid without question and without even obtaining the opinion of those who have carried out an impartial examination and, on that basis, put a substantially lower figure on the amount required?

(1) OJ C 330 E, 21.11.2000, p. 174.

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(28 July 2000)

When assessing a state aid case, the Commission takes account of all the information at its disposal, in addition to that provided by the national authorities, but is not bound by any of it.

The Commission feels that the role of the Comisión Nacional del Sistema Eléctrico (CNSE), now part of the Comisión Nacional de la Energía (CNE), is different from that of the Commission. The Commission's role is to assess the compatibility of the measures in question with the common market, in application of Articles 87 and 88 (formerly Articles 92 and 93) of the EC Treaty. The CNSE, on the other hand, is competent to act in particular as a consultative body for the Spanish authorities on electricity matters and, to this end, it takes part in the legislative process by means of proposals or opinions. The Honourable Member will note that, in accordance with Section 8 of Act 54/1997 on electricity, the opinions of the CNSE regarding competition are not binding on the national competition authorities or, of course, a fortiori, on the Commission.

Although the Commission is aware of the existence of the report to which the Honourable Member refers, it preferred, in view of the task conferred upon it by the EC Treaty, to decide for itself on the analyses and studies needed for its own assessment.

It is not customary for the Commission to formally question third parties such as the CNSE as part of the preparation of a state aid case.