The competition watchdog NMa has fined three regional electricity grid operators a total of €1.5m for not compensating consumers and businesses quickly enough for power cuts.

The grid operators are Rendo, Essent and Continuon (the network company of Nuon).
According to the regulations, users are automatically entitled to €35 for a power cut of between four and eight hours and €20 for the subsequent four hours.
Grid operators are obliged to pay the compensation by the time the next bill is due but Rendo has still not reimbursed customers for power cuts dating back to 2004 and will have to pay €5,000 for each week it remains in breach of the agreement.