Energi Danmark fined again for interconnector capacity hoarding
The Danish Utility Regulator reported Energi Danmark to the police in March 2024 for trading with itself on 3 January 2020 to take up cross-zonal capacity between two bidding zones. The National Unit for Special Crime fined the company DKK 380,000, which it accepted. The regulator counted a 2018 fine for the same conduct as aggravating.
On this page
The decision
- Authority
- Danish Utility Regulator (Forsyningstilsynet) (DUR), Denmark
- Published
- 28 February 2025
- Participants
- Energi Danmark A/S
- Commodity
- Electricity
- Market
- Cross-zonal intraday capacity between two bidding zones
- Conduct period
- 3 January 2020
- REMIT
- Article 5 (Market manipulation)
- Type of conduct
- Capacity hoarding
- Penalty
- DKK 380,000 (approx. EUR 51,000), accepted
- Status
- Final
What the regulator found
Forsyningstilsynet, the Danish Utility Regulator, announced on 28 February 2025 that Energi Danmark A/S had accepted a fine of DKK 380,000 for breaching the ban on market manipulation in Article 5 of REMIT. The case began with a police report that the regulator filed in March 2024. The fine itself was set by the National Unit for Special Crime (NSK), not by the regulator.
In the regulator's assessment, Energi Danmark's trading on 3 January 2020 amounted to five cases of market manipulation and one attempt. It describes the practice as capacity hoarding: the company acquired all, or a decisive share, of the capacity on an interconnector between two bidding zones by trading with itself. The regulator says this kept other market participants away from the capacity and created or widened a price difference between the two zones. The release does not name the zones or the interconnector.
How the fine was set
The regulator estimated the company's financial gain from the conduct at about DKK 80,693. The fine imposed was DKK 380,000.
The regulator treated an earlier fine as an aggravating factor. In December 2018 Energi Danmark had accepted a fine of DKK 750,000 for the same type of breach, and the 2025 announcement says the regulator included that in its police report. The announcement does not break the DKK 380,000 down further, and it does not say whether any confiscation was ordered.
What the regulator said
The regulator's director, Carsten Smidt, said that the conduct harms competition in cross-border energy markets, which can in the end raise the prices consumers pay. He added that the regulator hopes the case helps energy companies understand which trades are allowed under REMIT.
This account rests on the regulator's public announcement. It links neither the NSK fine notice nor the regulator's police report; those underlying documents were not located for this review. The release does not give a fuller penalty calculation.
For a surveillance function
The regulator's account connects self-trading with its effect on scarce cross-zonal capacity and other participants' access. Its police report also treated the earlier sanction for the same type of conduct as aggravating; neither the company's trading purpose alone nor the orders in isolation explained the case.
Sources
- Forsyningstilsynet, Energi Danmark betaler bode for manipulation af elmarkedet, 28 February 2025 (Press release, in Danish)
- ACER, overview of REMIT sanction decisions (ACER register)
Sources read on 27 October 2026. This page restates what the authority published and adds no finding of its own. A decision under appeal is not final, and its status may have changed since: check the source before relying on it.