EU to Split Some Energy Companies

The European Union aims to break up energy companies with dominant positions in both the wholesale and retail sectors of their businesses.

Neelie Kroes, the competition commissioner, said Monday that splitting vertically integrated energy firms, such as RWE and Eon of Germany and the French group EdF, would be an absolute priority, the Financial Times reported.

With the infrastructure in the hands of the incumbent supply companies and electricity generators, opportunities for discriminating against competing suppliers abound, Kroes said.