Press Release: Antitrust: Commission market tests commitments proposed by Svenska Kraftnät concerning Swedish electricity transmission market

The European Commission invited comments from interested parties on the commitments offered by Svenska Kraftnät (SvK), the Swedish transmission system operator, following the Commission's concerns that SvK might have breached EC Treaty antitrust rules on the abuse of a dominant market position (Article 82). The Commission's concerns relate to the Swedish electricity transmission market, and in particular that SvK is limiting the amount of export transmission capacity available on electricity interconnectors situated along Sweden's borders, with the objective of relieving internal congestion on its network. This would appear to favour consumers in Sweden over consumers in neighbouring EU and EEA Member States by reserving domestically produced electricity for domestic consumption. To alleviate these concerns, SvK offered to subdivide the Swedish transmission system into two or more bidding zones and to manage congestion in the Swedish transmission system without limiting trading capacity on interconnectors. If the result of the market test is positive, the Commission may adopt a decision under Article 9 of Regulation 1/2003, making the commitments legally binding on SvK.