Press Release: State aid: Commission starts second investigation into preferential electricity tariff for energy intensive industries in Sardinia

The European Commission on 27 April 2006 opened an in-depth investigation to establish whether the regulated preferential electricity tariff that Italy intended to grant to some energy intensive industries in Sardinia was in compliace with EC Treaty state aid rules. The Commission had doubts about the compatibility of the aid , because it did not seem to fulfil the requirements of the Regional Aid Guidelines and could create a serious distortion of competition in the European market of laminated aluminium, alumina, chlorine-soda, lead and zinc, where energy is an important part of the production costs.