The Federal Cartel Office is extending its proceedings against suppliers who may have submitted excessive refund applications in connection with the energy price brake.

The investigation concerns a two-digit number of electricity suppliers who have submitted advance payment applications in accordance with the price brake laws, said the President of the Bonn authority, Andreas Mundt, on Thursday. These are sales companies of large energy groups as well as municipal utilities, regional suppliers and also smaller discounters and suppliers with a focus on renewable energies. In addition, some suppliers who had claimed refunds for supplying large customers were also being investigated.

In mid-May, the competition authorities had already initiated proceedings against a double-digit number of gas suppliers. Unjustly received compensation payments must be repaid. Fines are also possible, explains the Cartel Office.

With the electricity and gas price brakes, the German government wants to mitigate the consequences of increased energy prices for consumers or companies. For its part, the Cartel Office wants to prevent suppliers from abusing state subsidies. The authority set up a special department for this purpose.

(Report by Tom Käckenhoff; edited by Sabine Wollrab. If you have any queries, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)