Electricity: the energy policeman accuses the supplier “Ohm Energie” of abuse because of its too high prices – LaDepeche.fr

the essential The electricity supplier Ohm Energie is targeted by a procedure by the Energy Regulation Commission. He is suspected of having deceived his customers by applying too high prices. The Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) has launched a procedure against the alternative electricity supplier Ohm Energie because of suspicions of resale at high prices of nuclear electricity purchased cheaply from EDF, confirmed this Friday 9 September the energy policeman in France. “A procedure has been launched for abuse of Arenh (Regulated Access to Historic Nuclear Electricity)”, i.e. the mechanism by which suppliers buy cheap nuclear electricity from EDF, said the Commission. The independent authority chaired by former minister Emmanuelle Wargon suspects the operator of having bought nuclear electricity from the Arenh and resold it on the markets at a higher price. These revelations confirm information from the Parisian, who affirms this Friday morning that the investigation in question targets the operator Ohm Energie, founded in 2018 and which claims 250,000 customers. However, the identity of the targeted company has not been confirmed by CRE. The supplier Ohm Energie denies the facts Contacted by AFP, the supplier quoted by the Ile-de-France daily for its part affirmed “not to have received any notification from the CRE concerning the launch of a procedure against it”. He denies having “never resold a single kWh of Arenh on the markets”, through the voice of its president François Joubert, a former EDF engineer. “Its prices after the increase remain lower or equivalent to those of its competitors and (…) it intends to maintain them all winter without an additional increase,” the company further argued. “We are trying to blame the alternatives, while the authorities have an obligation of neutrality (…) The responsibility for the crisis is not to be found among the alternatives but more in a catastrophic unavailability of nuclear energy”, has explained François Joubert. CRE’s investigations may lead to referral to the Dispute Resolution and Sanctions Committee (CORDIS), which may decide on possible sanctions. At the end of August, CRE announced that it was strengthening its market surveillance, calling on suppliers “to adopt responsible behavior”, in the midst of soaring wholesale prices.