The Commerce Commission, in a formal warning to two energy companies- Contact Energy and TrustPower-for their alleged anti-competitive conduct, has added that it would never tolerate bid-rigging incidents that came in to light during the purchase of the Cobb power station near Nelson in 2002.
The commission claimed that these companies acted very irresponsibly to avoid competitive bidding, a move that could adversely impact the revenue of the State.
Mark Berry, the Chair of Commission pulled these companies for their ill intentions and said that they were not prosecuted due to lack of credible information though their intentions were clear to affect the bidding.
Mr. Berry warned, “Parties need to remember that attempts are equally in breach of the act as if they had in fact entered into those arrangements."
Meanwhile, TrustPower and Contact declined the charges and said that they would never indulge in anti-competitive activities similar to their previous record.
Contact Energy Ltd, the biggest utility on the NZX 50, added that it has paid $92.5 million to the Cobb station in 2003 which was above that what was paid by its rivals.