PRESS RELEASE

SMART METERS: INVESTIGATION BY THE ITALIAN ANTITRUST AUTHORITY ON THE POSSIBILITY OF ABUSE BY ENEL OF ITS DOMINANT POSITION

The Italian Antitrust Authority launched an investigation against the company Enel Distribuzione S.p.A. and its parent company Enel S.p.A. to ascertain any possible abusive practices by the Enel group in the sector for monitoring services for electricity consumption (the so-called smart metering).

The proceedings concerned the possibility of abuse of a dominant position by Enel that had taken place, in violation of Article 102 TFUE, hampering in various ways the operations of a competing company in this sector and threatening the full development of competitive action in these innovative services.

To check the situation, on 10 December officials of the Italian Antitrust Authority carried out a series of inspections in the premises of the companies concerned, parties to the proceedings, as well as of the associated companies Enel Energia and Enel Italia, deemed to have in their possession useful information regarding the investigation, with the help of officials of the special Antitrust Unit and of the Unit for Technology Fraud of the Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza).

Rome, 10 December 2015