The traditional Dutch energy utilities such as Essent, Nuon and Eneco are making it difficult for newcomers to compete on the electricity market by keeping their power prices artificially low, according to today’s Het Financieele Dagblad.

The article is based on a report commissioned by the British energy concern Centrica. Centrica owns one of Holland’s most successful market newcomers Oxxio.
According to Oxxio, the established energy firms are using profits they make from transport grids – where they have a monopoly – to subsidise their power prices.
The possibility of cross subsidies is one of the main reasons for new legislation which will force energy utilities to completely separate their transport grids from commercial activities. The new law is due to be debated by the Senate on October 31.
Last week the energy watchdog DTe announced that it is investigating the high profits booked by the energy companies.