Competition Authority issues warning to Factorenergia for fraudulent gas and electricity contracts

BarcelonaThe Spanish National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) has imposed measures on the energy supplier Factorenergia to prevent electricity and gas consumers from being affected by deceptive commercial practices. The Catalan company holds barely 1% of the market share in gas and electricity, but accounted for 61% of the complaints filed with the competition regulator for deceptive commercial practices between January 2023 and August 2025. Furthermore, its early termination rate—that is, the time before contracts expire—is significantly higher than the industry average. The agency, chaired by Cani Fernández, explains that irregular commercial practices, through "abusive or misleading sales methods," occur when consumers are not clearly informed of who is calling them, on behalf of which supplier, or the commercial purpose of the call. Therefore, Factorenergia will have to comply with two types of measures, focused on new telephone contracts, and an additional one that will allow the CNMC (National Markets and Competition Commission) to determine whether the company complies with the supervision of its sales agents' activities. Regarding sales calls, to make consumers more aware of what they are doing, the obligations for identifying the company making the call, the company on whose behalf it is made, and the purpose of the communication will be strengthened. Furthermore, the requirement to obtain the consumer's prior consent to receive the call will also be reinforced. As for contracting and obtaining consent, the information that must be provided to the consumer in this process will be strengthened. In addition, the agency establishes the periodic monitoring of key indicators to detect deficiencies in sales practices and, where appropriate, adopt corrective measures, as well as the periodic submission of information to the CNMC.

"This decision does not impose any obligations beyond those stipulated by law, but rather strengthens compliance with existing ones, given the current situation," argues the competition regulator. In this regard, it warns that failure to comply with the imposed measures could lead to infringements classified as "serious."