The Italian Competition Authority closed the preliminary investigation initiated against Engie Italia S.p.a. (‘Engie’) – formerly GDF Suez Energie S.p.a. –  by imposing a fine of 200,000 Euros for unfair commercial practice, in violation of Art. 62 of the Consumer Code. The company allowed online payment of electricity and natural gas bills on its website by credit card, subject to the application of varying fees that increased according to the value of the invoice (€1.50 for totals up to €200.00, €3.00 for totals between €200.01 and €300.00, €4.00 for totals between €300.01 and €400, €5.00 for totals over €400.00). The Authority judged the application of this additional fee, whose existence was not denied by the company, to be contrary to Art. 62 of the Consumer Code, which provides for a general prohibition on charging consumers additional fees for the use of certain payment instruments, with the exception of expressly outlined cases. Therefore, in the absence of specific derogation, the Authority judged the aforementioned rule to apply to all entities and for all payment instruments. The conduct subject to sanctions was adopted by Engie from June 2014, the date of entry into force of the aforementioned regulation, and lasted until 28 February 2017, when the company made the online bill payment system free of charge. Given that the application of additional fees for the use of some payment instruments is also used by other energy sector operators, the Authority has initiated another five new investigations against Edison Energia S.p.a, Green Network S.p.a, Sorgenia S.p.a, E. On Energia S.p.a and A2A Energia S.p.a.

Rome, 27 April 2017