Futugrid fined for a non-genuine balancing bid (Estonia, 2026)
The Estonian Competition Authority found that Futugrid submitted a non-genuine balancing energy bid at EUR -9,999/MWh to avoid activation during a software update. The 1 MW bid was activated and set the marginal price for 12:00-12:15 on 1 April 2025; the authority imposed a EUR 16,000 fine.
On this page
The decision
- Authority
- Estonian Competition Authority (ECA), Estonia
- Published
- 9 October 2026
- Participants
- Futugrid Technologies OÜ
- Commodity
- Electricity
- Market
- Balancing energy market (Estonia)
- Conduct period
- Bid submitted 31 March 2025 for delivery 1 April 2025, 12:00-12:15
- REMIT
- Article 5 (Market manipulation)
- Type of conduct
- Non-genuine balancing bid
- Penalty
- EUR 16,000 (the statutory maximum for a legal person is EUR 32,000)
- Status
- Authority release of 9 October 2026: decision not yet in force; court challenge possible
What the authority found
Konkurentsiamet, the Estonian Competition Authority, announced on 9 October 2026 that it had fined Futugrid Technologies OÜ EUR 16,000 for manipulating the wholesale energy market. On 31 March 2025 the company submitted a 1 MW bid at EUR -9,999/MWh to the balancing energy market.
The authority records how the obligation arose. Futugrid had earlier submitted a balancing capacity offer on the Baltic balancing capacity market, which was activated, and from that award followed an obligation to submit an offer to the balancing energy market. Futugrid wanted to pause its balancing service in order to complete a software update. To do that it entered the energy bid and set the price with the aim of avoiding its activation while the update was carried out.
The bid was nevertheless activated for the system's balancing for the delivery period 12:00 to 12:15 on 1 April 2025, and the bid price became the marginal balancing energy price for that trading period.
What the decision turned on
The authority found that the bid was not genuine, because its purpose was to avoid activation on the balancing energy market while satisfying the obligation from the capacity market. In its assessment the bid gave a misleading signal to the balancing energy market and directly affected how the market price formed. The announcement gives the company's reason for the price as the software update.
The legal basis is Article 5 of REMIT, which prohibits market manipulation. Section 101^4 of the Electricity Market Act provides for a fine of up to EUR 32,000 for a legal person for such a breach, and the fine of EUR 16,000 is half of that ceiling. The announcement does not set out how the amount was calculated or whether any factor raised or lowered it.
The outcome
The announcement stated that the decision had not entered into force and could be challenged in court in the manner the law provides. The full text of the decision is not published with the announcement, so the reasoning on the company's position, the bid's direction and the effect on the price is not available beyond what is summarised here.
For a surveillance function
The authority's account links the energy-market bid to an earlier capacity-market obligation and the company's software update. It treated a price selected to avoid activation as a non-genuine market signal, although the company's stated reason was operational and the bid was actually activated.
Sources
- Konkurentsiamet, Konkurentsiamet määras Futugrid Technologies OÜ-le rahatrahvi turureeglite rikkumise eest, 9 October 2026 (Press release, in Estonian)
- ACER, REMIT breach: Estonian Competition Authority fines Futugrid, 14 October 2026 (ACER release)
- 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.