EDP’s behavior harmed Portuguese consumers in two ways: (i) it caused EDP to receive greater CMEC compensations, which are paid by consumers in electricity tariffs; and (ii) it caused wholesale electricity prices to increase, which were passed on to consumers in the retail market.
The damages caused to consumers by these practices were quantified by an independent audit ordered by the Government, and were also estimated in the AdC’s Decision.
The Government has already acted, through the CMEC revision mechanism, to indirectly compensate consumers for the damages caused by the first type of damage, in the amount of 72,9 million EUR.
But consumers must still be compensated for the part of the damage caused by the electricity surcharge which was passed on to consumers. This second type of damage was estimate in the PCA Decision as 94.8 million EUR (excluding update for inflation and legal interest).
Ius may still be required to act to compensate consumers also for the first type of damage, because EDP has appealed the Government’s decision which would require it compensate consumers for the damage caused by the increase in the compensation paid to EDP Produção under the CMEC regime. This appeal is currently pending before the administrative court.