Four foreign energy concerns in the Netherlands have broken off from the power sector’s organisation EnergieNed and set up their own lobby group.

The four companies, good for half of Dutch electricity production, are Electrabel Nederland, Eon Benelux, Oxxio (owned by Britain’s Centrica) and RWE Energy Nederland.
In a statement released on Thursday the four companies say that the setting up of the new Association for Energy Markets (VME) is a ‘logical step’ in a free European energy market.
‘The government determines the borders of the playing field and facilitates the market. The functioning of the market must be left to market prices. A joint lobby group representing regulated activities such as grid management on one side, and market activities such as production, supply and trading on the other, creates an unclear situation for customers and others,’ says the VME statement.
The traditional energy sector organisation EnergieNed represents the whole sector. In a reaction, EnergieNed says it regrets the decision by the four companies to set up a separate lobby group.