The Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC) has imposed a €1 million fine on Enérgya VM Gestión de Energía, S.L.U. for manipulating the Spanish gas market.
This penalty comes under the REMIT Regulation (EU) No 1227/2011, which prohibits market manipulation and seeks to protect the integrity and transparency of the EU’s wholesale energy markets.
In its decision, CNMC found that Enérgya VM Gestión de Energía had breached Article 5 of REMIT, specifically Article 2.2.a.ii, in artificially setting the price by marking the reference ‘precio último diario’ (last daily price) for the Mibgas Spanish product D+1 across 32 trading sessions from 1 September to 31 December 2022.
The investigation revealed that Enérgya VM Gestión de Energía placed purchase orders without the intention of executing them, with bids entered between 0 and 7 seconds before the trading session’s closing. This behaviour minimised the risk of the Enérgya VM Gestión de Energía bids being matched by other market participants.
As a result of Enérgya VM Gestión de Energía’s actions, in the 32 trading sessions reported the closing bid-ask spread was reduced, impacting the calculation method of the last daily price that resulted artificially inflated.
ACER welcomes this decision by CNMC, which seeks to promote the transparency and integrity of the Spanish natural gas market.
Access the Decision and CNMC’s press release (both in Spanish).
See the latest table of REMIT breach sanction decisions adopted by national regulatory authorities.
Check the ACER REMIT Guidance (6th edition) for more information on the types of trading practices which could constitute market manipulation under REMIT.
Interested in further information on enforcement decisions under REMIT? Check out ACER’s REMIT Quarterly reports.
