Eneco wins court case forced unbundling called off

The Court of Justice in The Hague has called verdict in the Legal proceedings that were instituted by Eneco (together with Essent en Delta) against the forced unbundling of energy companies by the Dutch State. Verdict was that the law is inconsistent with European law and that there are “no compelling causes of general interest” to oblige energy companies to split up their networks groups and their production- and supply business. This signifies that these clauses are non-binding and that forced unbundling is called off. The Ministry of Economic Affairs has announced that it will appeal the judgement with the Supreme Court of the Netherlands but is unlikely that judgement will follow before the first of January.

Eneco is very pleased with the ruling of the Court of Justice. The verdict is consistent with our sense of justice and aligns with our vision that a reliable and sustainable energy supply is safeguarded within an integrated energy company. The Court has decided in our favour. The unbundling of Eneco per January 1st 2011 is called off.

The option to maintain an integrated business model for Eneco on the longer term is seriously considered. It is valuable that the management of the company can make this assessment purely from a company interest perspective.With this ruling the execution of the instruction of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which obliges the company to reinforce its network Group equity and put guarantees in place, is no longer necessary. One immediate consequence is the cancellation of the planned hybrid bond offering which was designed to meet requirements under the unbundling rules.