Who was sanctioned, and for what?

On a total of 249 days, the Portuguese branch of the energy supplier failed to hold the mandatory natural gas security reserves, did not correctly show network charges on invoices, did not publish, or published late, mandatory information and its quality report, and failed to meet the standards for hotline waiting times. In a settlement procedure, the Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços Energéticos (Portuguese Energy Services Regulatory Authority, ERSE) set a fine of 44,000 EUR and reduced it to 22,000 EUR.

Authority / court

Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços Energéticos (ERSE)

Area of law

Other

Legal basis

Regime Sancionatório do Setor Energético (RSSE), Art. 28, 29; Decreto-Lei n.º 62/2020, Art. 96; RRC; RQS

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Energy and utilities

Culpability

negligent

Mitigating circumstances

Settlement (transação) with full admission, remediation of all infringements

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

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In several months of 2023 and 2024, the gas supplier did not hold the natural gas security reserves and did not name the competent alternative dispute resolution bodies in customer contracts. The Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços Energéticos (Portuguese Energy Services Regulatory Authority, ERSE) accepted the settlement proposal, set a fine of 24,000 EUR and reduced it to 12,000 EUR.

Authority / court

Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços Energéticos (ERSE)

Area of law

Other

Legal basis

RSSE, Art. 29; Decreto-Lei n.º 62/2020, Art. 57, 96; Portaria n.º 59/2022; RRC Art. 22

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Energy and utilities

Culpability

negligent

Mitigating circumstances

Settlement with admission and remediation

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

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In an action brought by Notre Affaire à Tous, Sherpa, ZEA, France Nature Environnement and the City of Paris, the Paris Judicial Court (Tribunal judiciaire de Paris, 34th chamber) ruled that climate risks fall under the French duty of vigilance law and that Scope 3 emissions are part of the oil and gas group's activities. The vigilance plan without Scope 3 is incomplete, the court held; TotalEnergies must supplement it within six months, with provisional enforceability, and implementation will be reviewed by the court in January 2027.

Authority / court

Tribunal judiciaire de Paris (34. Kammer)

Area of law

Supply chain and human rights · Supply chain due diligence

Legal basis

Art. L.225-102-1 und L.225-102-2 Code de commerce (Loi n° 2017-399, devoir de vigilance); Art. 1252 Code civil

Action

Order

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Energy and utilities

Employees

10,000 or more

Published

25 Jun 2026

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

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Due to errors by a processor of the energy supplier, incorrect details of a direct debit mandate were recorded, so that three bills instead of one were debited from the customer's account; call recordings and the mandate form had not been retained. ZENITH responded inadequately to the access request and did not correct the data (100,000 EUR), while Piraeus Bank infringed the right of access (10,000 EUR and a reprimand); Decision No. 8/2026 of the Hellenic Data Protection Authority.

Authority / court

Αρχή Προστασίας Δεδομένων Προσωπικού Χαρακτήρα (Hellenic DPA)

Area of law

Data protection · Data subject rights and transparency

Legal basis

Art. 5 Abs. 1 lit. d, Art. 12 Abs. 3, Art. 15, Art. 28 DSGVO

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Energy and utilities

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

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The manufacturer of solar tracking systems disseminated its results for 2023 by way of an "Otra Información Relevante" announcement containing inaccurate information. Spain's National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) imposed a fine of 190,000 EUR for a serious infringement; the company waived administrative appeals.

Authority / court

Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV)

Area of law

Capital markets and financial supervision · Disclosure and reporting obligations

Legal basis

Art. 297.1.e i. V. m. 297.2.d Ley 6/2023; Art. 17 i. V. m. Art. 7 MAR

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Energy and utilities

Published

3 Aug 2026

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

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The Walloon water utility recorded and listened in on customer calls for quality control and training purposes; the Litigation Chamber of the Autorité de protection des données (Belgian Data Protection Authority, APD/GBA) found infringements of transparency and fairness as well as in the engagement of a sub-processor. It imposed two fines totalling 86,000 EUR (85,000 + 1,000) after reducing the amounts in view of the situation of the public utility; an appeal against the decision has been lodged with the Market Court.

Authority / court

Autorité de protection des données (APD/GBA) – Chambre Contentieuse

Area of law

Data protection · Data subject rights and transparency

Legal basis

DSGVO Art. 5 Abs. 1 lit. a, Art. 6 Abs. 1, Art. 12 Abs. 1, Art. 13, Art. 28 Abs. 3

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

under appeal

Sector

Energy and utilities

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

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A provider of public utility services used GPS transmitters in company vehicles to record employees’ location data permanently and without cause, without defining a purpose, carrying out a balancing of interests or providing sufficient information. The Informacijski pooblaščenec (Information Commissioner of the Republic of Slovenia, IP) imposed 6,000 EUR on the company and 600 EUR on the responsible person.

Authority / court

Informacijski pooblaščenec Republike Slovenije (IP)

Area of law

Data protection · Employee data

Legal basis

Art. 5 und Art. 6 DSGVO

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Energy and utilities

Liability of senior managers

Additional fine of 600 EUR on the responsible person.

Published

15 Apr 2026

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

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In a tender for industrial photovoltaic installations that was to be financed from EU Structural Funds, three bidders coordinated their bids so that a pre-selected bidder would win; the contracting entity BarCom acted as facilitator. The Protimonopolný úrad Slovenskej republiky (Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic, PMÚ SR) imposed a total of 1,098,200 EUR and three-year procurement bans on all four; the EU funding was refused because of the indications of competition infringements, and the collusion was proven by e-mails secured during the inspection.

Authority / court

Protimonopolný úrad Slovenskej republiky (PMÚ SR)

Area of law

Competition law · Cartels and collusion

Legal basis

Slowakisches Wettbewerbsschutzgesetz (Submissionsabsprache)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Energy and utilities

Culpability

intentional

Published

11 Feb 2026

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

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A filling station operator (medium-sized company, name not published) did not send the originals of eight sheets from the statutory complaints book to the authority on time. The Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços Energéticos (Portuguese Energy Services Regulatory Authority, ERSE) imposed 16,000 EUR for eight negligent administrative offences; the Competition, Regulation and Supervision Court upheld the fine in full on 14 July 2026.

Authority / court

Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços Energéticos (ERSE)

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail

Legal basis

Decreto-Lei n.º 156/2005 (Livro de Reclamações); Regime Jurídico das Contraordenações Económicas, Art. 18, 19

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Energy and utilities

Employees

50 to 249

Culpability

negligent

Mitigating circumstances

No previous record, no economic advantage

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

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An employee of the customer service provider was serving two customers in chat at the same time and assigned one customer's e-mail address to the other; as a result, the complainant received the name, debts and billing data of a stranger. The Spanish data protection authority (Agencia Española de Protección de Datos, AEPD) saw the cause in the process design, which allowed parallel chats, and imposed 500,000 EUR for lack of data protection by design; the request for reconsideration was rejected.

Authority / court

Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD)

Area of law

Data protection · Data processors

Legal basis

Art. 25 DSGVO

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Energy and utilities

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

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In the reopened proceedings, the Javna agencija Republike Slovenije za varstvo konkurence (Slovenian Competition Protection Agency, AVK) found that the companies had shared the market for take-back schemes for packaging waste and agreed to stop providing their services to a competitor (now Interzero). The authority ordered immediate termination; the decision is not final, and an earlier decision from 2019 in the same matter is partly final.

Authority / court

Javna agencija Republike Slovenije za varstvo konkurence (AVK)

Area of law

Competition law · Cartels and collusion

Legal basis

Art. 6 ZPOmK-1, Art. 101 AEUV (3062-5/2017)

Action

Order

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Energy and utilities

Published

16 Apr 2026

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

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Between 2016 and 2023, the shareholders of the Corsican fuel storage company DPLC made the use of the depots conditional on a shareholding by means of a contractual clause; non-shareholders had to buy their fuel from their competitors, which could push up pump prices in Corsica (decision 25-D-07). Fines: TotalEnergies Marketing France 115.82 million EUR, Rubis 64.67 million EUR, EG Retail 7 million EUR.

Authority / court

Autorité de la concurrence

Area of law

Competition law · Cartels and collusion

Legal basis

Art. L.420-1 Code de commerce, Art. 101 AEUV

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

under appeal

Sector

Energy and utilities

Employees

10,000 or more

Published

17 Nov 2025

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

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In 2024, Emsi acquired control of four filling stations in Kaunas, Vilnius and Maišiagala through leases (via an affiliated company) and purchases without obtaining the required clearances, ignoring previous notices from the Konkurencijos taryba (Lithuanian Competition Council). For two concentrations, fines of 545,160 EUR and 477,010 EUR were imposed, a total of 1,022,170 EUR, together with an obligation to remedy the situation within three months. Source: archived copy of the press release.

Authority / court

Konkurencijos taryba (Litauischer Wettbewerbsrat)

Area of law

Competition law · Merger control

Legal basis

Konkurencijos įstatymas (Anmelde- und Genehmigungspflicht für Zusammenschlüsse)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Energy and utilities

Published

6 Nov 2025

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

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In an action brought by Greenpeace France, Les Amis de la Terre and Notre Affaire à Tous, the Paris Judicial Court (Tribunal judiciaire de Paris, 34th chamber) found that TotalEnergies had advertised on totalenergies.fr with the goal of ‘carbon neutrality by 2050’ and its role as a player in the energy transition without disclosing that oil and gas production continues to be expanded – a misleading commercial practice. The court ordered the communication to cease, damages to be paid to the associations and the operative part of the judgment to be published on the website (RG 22/02955); claims relating to gas and agrofuels were dismissed.

Authority / court

Tribunal judiciaire de Paris (34. Kammer)

Area of law

Environment and sustainability · Misleading environmental and sustainability claims

Legal basis

Art. L121-1 ff. Code de la consommation (Umsetzung der Richtlinie 2005/29/EG)

Action

Order

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Energy and utilities

Employees

10,000 or more

Published

23 Oct 2025

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

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From 2015 to 2019, the managing director of a supplier of landfill technology granted the managing director of a waste management company controlled by two German federal states benefits of around 696,325 EUR and in return received preferential contracts. Because the waste management company is state-controlled, its head was deemed a public official. The prison sentence of 3 years and 6 months is final; the confiscation of 1,982,658.63 EUR must be decided afresh.

Authority / court

Bundesgerichtshof (6. Strafsenat); Vorinstanz Landgericht Neuruppin

Area of law

Bribery and corruption · Bribery of public officials

Legal basis

§ 334 StGB (Bestechung) i. V. m. § 11 Abs. 1 Nr. 2 c StGB; BGH 6 StR 315/24; LG Neuruppin 13 KLs 26/23

Action

Custodial sentence

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Energy and utilities

Culpability

intentional

Liability of senior managers

The supplier's managing director was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months' imprisonment.

Published

5 Jan 2026

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

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The district heating company stored the passwords of almost 16,000 users of its customer portal ‘Moj račun’ in readable form and, when ‘forgot password’ was used, sent the old password by e-mail. The Agencija za zaštitu osobnih podataka (Croatian Personal Data Protection Agency, AZOP) imposed 320,000 EUR for lack of security measures and insufficient cooperation, as the company neither provided evidence of remediation nor disclosed all information (date = publication).

Authority / court

Agencija za zaštitu osobnih podataka (AZOP)

Area of law

Data protection · Data breaches and data security

Legal basis

Art. 31, Art. 32 DSGVO

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Energy and utilities

Published

22 Jul 2025

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

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From January 2022, by internal instruction, the municipal water utility reserved to itself the installation of additional water meters (for example for garden water), thereby excluding other providers; customers also had to pay for sewerage they did not use. The Konkurences padome (Latvian Competition Council) found an abuse of a dominant position, imposed 78,055.79 EUR and ordered remedies.

Authority / court

Konkurences padome (Lettischer Wettbewerbsrat)

Area of law

Competition law · Abuse of market power

Legal basis

Art. 13 Konkurences likums

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Energy and utilities

Published

9 Jul 2025

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

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In 2019–2022, the waste management company charged the towns of Martin and Vrútky significantly higher prices for landfilling residual waste than other municipalities without objective justification, although they had no alternative. The Council of the Protimonopolný úrad Slovenskej republiky (Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic, PMÚ SR) upheld the fine of 180,200 EUR; the decision became final on 3 July 2025.

Authority / court

Protimonopolný úrad Slovenskej republiky (PMÚ SR)

Area of law

Competition law · Abuse of market power

Legal basis

Slowakisches Wettbewerbsschutzgesetz (Missbrauch einer marktbeherrschenden Stellung)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Energy and utilities

Published

9 Jul 2025

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

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In a ‘code of ethics’, the industry association obliged its members not to poach each other’s employees. In its first decision on labour market cartels, the Protimonopolný úrad Slovenskej republiky (Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic, PMÚ SR) imposed a symbolic fine of 10,000 EUR (first instance) as a warning to business.

Authority / court

Protimonopolný úrad Slovenskej republiky (PMÚ SR)

Area of law

Competition law · Cartels and collusion

Legal basis

Slowakisches Wettbewerbsschutzgesetz (Beschluss einer Unternehmensvereinigung)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Energy and utilities

Published

2 Jul 2025

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

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The Úrad na ochranu oznamovateľov (Slovak Whistleblower Protection Office) initially imposed 10,000 EUR because the water utility’s policy named an e-mail address that had been deactivated since October 2022 as a reporting channel available around the clock and because employees were not informed comprehensibly about external reporting channels. On appeal, the head of the authority dropped the e-mail allegation for procedural reasons, set aside the part concerning the failure to acknowledge a report and set the fine at 2,000 EUR solely for the missing information on reporting channels to the competent authorities (September 2023 to September 2024).

Authority / court

Úrad na ochranu oznamovateľov (Slowakei)

Area of law

Whistleblower protection · Missing or inadequate reporting channel

Legal basis

§ 10 Abs. 5, § 19 Abs. 3 Gesetz Nr. 54/2019 über den Schutz von Hinweisgebern

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

reduced

Sector

Energy and utilities

Culpability

negligent

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

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