The Claim

This claim in being brought as a follow-on claim from a European Commission decision, and relates to the wrongdoing of 11 manufacturers of underground and submarine high voltage power cables, who participated in a market sharing cartel.  This cartel sought to allocate high voltage projects, large infrastructure projects, and renewable energy projects within the European Economic Area.  

On 2 April 2014, the European Commission adopted a decision against the Cartel, and issued 302 million Euros in fines against 26 legal entities for infringing Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement.  It was found that from 1999 onwards, the Cartel infringed competition law by participating in a network of multilateral and bilateral meetings and contacts aimed at restricting competition for underground and submarine power cable projects in specific territories.  This was done by agreeing on market and customer allocation, thereby distorting the normal competitive process. 

 The Proposed Class Representative, Clare Spottiswoode CBE, believes the cartel meant that energy suppliers charged too much as a result of this price increase in cables and in turn, UK customers who bought energy between (dates tbc) would have also been overcharged for their home energy  bill as a result of the set the price of energy taken into account by energy suppliers during manufacturing.

Case Update

Before a collective action such as this can proceed to a full trial, the Competition Appeal Tribunal must certify the claim and make a ‘collective proceedings order’.

[Goes on to explain a case progress timeline.]