Competition opens new files for infringements similar to those of the blackout

BARCELONAThe National Markets and Competition Commission has opened 15 new sanctioning proceedings for possible infringements detected within the framework of last year's blackout investigation, although, unlike those announced last week, these correspond to "different days or periods" than those of April 28, 2025.

As the supervisory body reported this Friday, 11 of the files correspond to Endesa. As CNMC sources have confirmed to el ARA, they are different files because they correspond to different facilities. The remaining proceedings have been opened against TotalEnergies, Engie Cartagena, ContourGlobal La Rioja, and Ascó-Vandellós.

Competition accuses these companies – with the exception of the nuclear one – of the same non-compliance for whichFiles from last week

Competition accuses these companies – with the exception of the nuclear one– of the same breaches for which sanctioning proceedings were already opened last week against the same Endesa, Naturgy, Iberdrola and Repsol, for acts that were directly related to the blackout. Even so, it has insisted again that the blackout had a "multifactorial origin" and that the facts that have led to the opening of sanctioning proceedings "do not imply, on their own, the attribution of the origin or cause" of the events of April 28 to the affected companies.

The proceedings have a maximum duration of between nine and eighteen months, depending on the severity of the infraction, and the affected companies will be able to submit allegations.

Beyond the investigations opened into the mentioned electricity companies, last week it also opened an investigation into Red Eléctrica for allegedly having failed to fulfill its functions as an operator "to the detriment of the system or subjects", which could constitute a very serious infraction.