Dutch Competition Authority ACM has allowed two cooperation in the energy sector on the grounds that there is no violation of competition rules. The first initiative concerns the joint purchase of electricity from a wind farm by businesses and organizations. The other initiative is about distribution system operators agreeing to use a uniform price for CO2 in calculation models for grid investments. ACM followed its ‘Draft Guidelines Regarding Sustainability Agreements’
Businesses are allowed to purchase wind energy jointly VEMW is an association for business energy users and business water users. VEMW wants its members to be able to conclude a contract with the future developers of the off-shore wind farm Hollandse Kust West collectively. In that way, their electricity rate for green energy will be fixed for several years, and the businesses involved subsequently promote the generation of sustainable energy. Having long-term supply contracts is also favourable for wind-farm developers.
This collaboration allows members of VEMW (not just the more notable companies but also specifically, the smaller ones) to procure green energy straight from the producer. As such, they help realize the agreed-upon climate goals even more and promote the creation of wind farms. Besides, businesses and wind-farm developers will continue to have options to buy and sell sustainable energy elsewhere. That is why the initiative is not at odds with competition rules.
In 2021, system operators wanted to agree with each other about using a price of, initially, 50 euros per ton of CO2 when making a purchase and investment decisions. Because the lower the CO2 emissions are, the lower the costs. A price of 50 euros per ton of CO2 does not result in an appreciable effect on costs and, by extension, on the system operators’ tariffs. However, ACM concludes that, with a higher price for CO2, the sustainability gains outweigh the potential costs for users. All energy users benefit from the agreement if CO2 emissions are reduced. Subsequently, ACM sees that cooperation is necessary to realize this benefit and that sufficient competition will remain.
(ACM – 28.02.2022)
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NAZALI TAX & LEGAL |