The CNC Council imposed the fine following a 2010 complaint from competitors Gas Natural Servicios. and Unión Fenosa Comercial.
The regulator said express consent was required for customers to change their electricity supplier. However, between August 2009 and March 2010 Iberdrola to transferred customers without their consent from the group’s distributor of last resort to the free market distributor.
The CNC Council decided on 24 February that there was proof of Iberdrola having breached competition rules. It said the breach occurred at a moment when the effects of the deregulation of the retail electricity supply market were going to be felt the most. The deregulated distributors were going to be able to compete for consumers who were going to be supplied on a transitional basis by a distributor of last resort and consumers’ chances of finding better supply alternatives would increase.