The Commerce Commission has begun Court action against Southpower Ltd today.
Commission Chairman Dr Alan Bollard said that a statement of claim alleging breaches of sections 27 and 36 of the Commerce Act has been filed in the Christchurch High Court.
Section 27 prohibits contracts arrangements or understandings that substantially lessen competition. Section 36 prohibits a dominant market position being used for an anti-competitive purpose.
Dr Bollard said that the court action follows an investigation initiated after complaints from independent electricity retailers. The complainants said that they were being denied the opportunity to use Southpower's electricity network to sell electricity to consumers in Christchurch, in competition with Southpower.
"The essence of the Commission's allegations is that Southpower overstates the costs of its monopoly network business and understates the costs of its competitive electricity sales," Dr Bollard said.
"In addition, the Commission also alleges that Southpower charges independent retailers excessive network access charges which its own electricity sales business does not have to pay."
The statement of claim is a court document and may be available from the Christchurch High Court registry.
Media contact:Chief Investigator Network Industries Unit David Taylor
