Victory before the Court of Appeal on Grid Tariffs
Acting on Electrabel's behalf, Patrick Peeters and Thomas Verstraeten (NautaDutilh Brussels) have obtained a significant victory before the energy chamber of the Brussels Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal has annulled the decision of the CREG approving new Elia transmission grid tariffs for the period 2011 - 2014.
The annulled decision had introduced a tariff which was payable upon any injection of electricity into Elia's transmission grid. These tariffs would have had a severe impact on Electrabel's electricity generation activities invoking additional costs of more than EUR 100 million per year. More generally, it would have negatively impacted the competitiveness of Belgium's electricity generation park as a whole.
Electrabel was particularly pleased that the Court had granted all claims on the merits, including the technical arguments which we had invoked. Elia and CREG will now have to adopt new grid tariffs taking into account the grounds of the decision of the Court. Hence, the new tariffs may not negatively affect the competitiveness of Belgian electricity production.
