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

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

In a settlement procedure the energy regulator ordered electricity and gas supplier Enforcesco to pay 107,920 EUR in total: 90,000 EUR (halved from 180,000 EUR) under the energy-sector sanctions regime and 17,920 EUR in voluntarily paid fines for economic administrative offences. The breaches included taking over 6,853 customers without explicit consent, failing to hold the required natural gas security reserves from January 2023 to February 2025, incorrect invoices, an unlawful disconnection and a call-centre answer rate of only 57.8% in 2023.

Authority / court

Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços Energéticos (ERSE)

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail

Legal basis

Lei n.º 9/2013 (RSSE), Art. 28 und 29, i. V. m. RRC 2020 und geltendem RRC, RQS, Diretivas ERSE n.º 1/2018 und 22/2022, Portaria n.º 59/2022; RJCE

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Energy and utilities

Culpability

negligent

Mitigating circumstances

Full admission, cooperation, remedying of all breaches, the company's financial situation and compensation of three customers (150 EUR in total) were taken into account in the settlement procedure.

Checked against the official source on 28 Sep 2026 · Direct link

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Measures against individuals are not reported here.

Published

15 Apr 2026

Checked against the official source on 28 Sep 2026 · Version 2 · Direct link

The Kartellgericht (Cartel Court) fined Killer GmbH & Co KG and Killer GmbH allegedly 278,000 EUR for taking part in the nationwide waste management cartel from July 2002 to March 2021, mainly in Lower and Upper Austria and occasionally in Tyrol. The participants fixed prices, shared territories and customers and exchanged competitively sensitive information, including in tenders for waste collection. The fine was reduced because of leniency status and the consensual termination of the proceedings.

Authority / court

Oberlandesgericht Wien als Kartellgericht (Antrag der Bundeswettbewerbsbehörde)

Area of law

Competition law · Cartels and collusion

Legal basis

§ 1 Abs. 1 KartG und Art. 101 Abs. 1 AEUV; § 29 Abs. 1 Z 1 lit. a und d KartG

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Energy and utilities

Repeat case

no

Mitigating circumstances

Reduction for cooperation under the leniency programme and the consensual termination of the proceedings.

Published

15 Sep 2026

Checked against the official source on 4 Oct 2026 · Direct link

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

The Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC, Spanish competition and markets authority) imposed a fine of 20,500,000 EUR on Repsol group companies, for which Repsol S.A. and Repsol Customer Centric are also jointly and severally liable as parent companies: between April and December 2022 Repsol used its dominant position in the wholesale supply of motor fuels to service stations to squeeze the diesel margins of independent stations by raising wholesale prices while granting additional discounts to professional drivers at its own stations. In addition, three companies are barred for six months from public tenders for the supply of diesel fuel.

Authority / court

Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC)

Area of law

Competition law · Abuse of market power

Legal basis

Art. 2 und Art. 62.4.b) Ley 15/2007 de Defensa de la Competencia; Art. 102 AEUV; Vergabeverbot nach Art. 71.1.b) Ley 9/2017 de Contratos del Sector Público

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Energy and utilities

Employees

10,000 or more

Published

3 Feb 2026

Checked against the official source on 28 Sep 2026 · Direct link

The energy regulator punished 13 offences by EDP Comercial with a combined fine of 260,000 EUR, halved to 130,000 EUR in the settlement procedure. The offences included supplier switches without explicit consent or without checking entitlement, unlawful disconnections and capacity reductions, missed call-centre response targets in 2023 and 2024, an absolutely prohibited standard contract clause and a marketing message that did not disclose its commercial purpose.

Authority / court

Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços Energéticos (ERSE)

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail

Legal basis

Lei n.º 9/2013 (RSSE) i. V. m. RRC 2021/2023, RQS 2023 und Diretiva ERSE n.º 22/2022; Art. 18 Decreto-Lei n.º 446/85; Art. 9 Decreto-Lei n.º 57/2008 i. V. m. RJCE

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Energy and utilities

Culpability

negligent

Mitigating circumstances

Partial admission, cooperation, evidence of remediation, the company's financial situation and compensation of six customers (50 EUR each) were taken into account in the settlement procedure.

Checked against the official source on 28 Sep 2026 · Direct link

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

Following numerous complaints about marketing calls for Heron, the Archi Prostasias Dedomenon (Hellenic Data Protection Authority) found in Decision 43/2025 shortcomings in the controls over the call centres engaged and in security measures, with the result that subscribers on the opt-out register under Art. 11 of Law 3471/2006 were also called; in addition, some data had been collected unlawfully. It imposed a total of EUR 165,000: EUR 115,000 on Heron (Art. 32 GDPR) together with a warning and an order to introduce, within six months, an audit procedure for call-centre partners with checks at least once a year, EUR 35,000 on ICOMM (5,000 Art. 32, 10,000 Art. 29, 20,000 Art. 5(1)(a) GDPR) with an erasure order, and EUR 15,000 on a further call centre (Art. 32 GDPR).

Authority / court

Αρχή Προστασίας Δεδομένων Προσωπικού Χαρακτήρα (Hellenic Data Protection Authority)

Area of law

Data protection · Marketing and consent

Legal basis

Art. 5 Abs. 1 lit. a, Art. 29, Art. 32, Art. 58 Abs. 2 lit. d, f und i DSGVO; Art. 11 ν. 3471/2006; Art. 21 ν. 2472/1997 i. V. m. Art. 84 ν. 4624/2019

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Energy and utilities

Checked against the official source on 28 Sep 2026 · Direct link

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

The Bundesnetzagentur (Federal Network Agency) fined an energy company 210,000 EUR for unlawful telephone advertising. Callers often posed as the consumer's energy supplier, and in many cases contracts were foisted on the people called; the company has appealed.

Authority / court

Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA)

Area of law

Data protection · Marketing and consent

Legal basis

UWG – Verbot unerlaubter Telefonwerbung gegenüber Verbraucherinnen und Verbrauchern

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

under appeal

Sector

Energy and utilities

Checked against the official source on 2 Oct 2026 · Direct link

The Bundesnetzagentur (Federal Network Agency) imposed fines totalling 100,500 EUR on a solar photovoltaic company: 66,000 EUR for unlawful telephone advertising and 34,500 EUR for withholding caller numbers on sales calls. Callers concealed who the calls were really for and in some cases falsely presented sales calls as mere advisory calls.

Authority / court

Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA)

Area of law

Data protection · Marketing and consent

Legal basis

UWG – Verbot unerlaubter Telefonwerbung gegenüber Verbraucherinnen und Verbrauchern; Verbot der Rufnummernunterdrückung bei Werbeanrufen

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Energy and utilities

Checked against the official source on 2 Oct 2026 · Direct link

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

Action

Order

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Energy and utilities

Published

16 Apr 2026

Checked against the official source on 28 Sep 2026 · Version 2 · Direct link

Applying Section 32f(2) of the German Competition Act (GWB) for the first time, the Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartel Office) required Rethmann SE & Co. KG and its affiliated companies (the Rethmann Group, which includes Remondis) to notify for three years before completion even mergers below the general turnover thresholds, where the target generates more than 1 million EUR in domestic turnover and at least 100,000 EUR in the collection of non-hazardous municipal waste or the processing of hollow glass. The decision builds on the findings of the sector inquiry into municipal waste completed at the end of 2023; it was not yet final when announced.

Authority / court

Bundeskartellamt

Area of law

Competition law · Merger control

Legal basis

§ 32f Abs. 2 GWB (Az. B5-31/24)

Action

Order

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Energy and utilities

Published

24 Nov 2025

Checked against the official source on 2 Oct 2026 · Direct link

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