Major utilities cleared of price manipulation during 2024 ‘Dunkelflaute’ periods – report
Clean Energy Wire
Germany’s competition authority has found no evidence that major power suppliers used their market power to drive up electricity prices during prolonged periods of low renewables output in 2024, so-called 'dark doldrums' (Dunkelflaute).
“Our investigations have found no evidence of abusive withholding of generation capacity by any of the five largest electricity generation companies during the two dark doldrums at the end of 2024,” said Federal Cartel Office president Andreas Mundt. “The high prices during this period were therefore not the result of behaviour contrary to antitrust law.”
Several consecutive days of little sunshine and wind reduced renewable power generation in early November and December 2024, pushing up fossil fuel use and wholesale electricity prices. A sudden and sharp electricity price spike during a day of very little wind and solar power output in December had prompted the country’s grid regulator to investigate a possible market manipulation.
Energy analysts said such weather patterns are common at this time of year and do not pose a risk to the stability of Germany’s power system. Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) head Klaus Müller said supply was secured at all times but warned that future periods of low wind and solar output underline “an urgent need” for new power capacity that can be brought online quickly and for “much greater flexibility in supply and demand”.
Germany aims to build new gas-fired power plants, but is still in negotiations with the European Commission, seeking approval to provide state aid.
German antitrust law is intended, among other things, to prevent market-dominating electricity generation companies from abusively driving up prices for electricity generation. Market dominance is only a possibility for large electricity generators. The Federal Cartel Office therefore conducted the in-depth investigation into the use of power plants by the five largest electricity producers, EnBW, LEAG, RWE, Uniper and Vattenfall. It examined whether power plants reported as available were actually used, and whether the power plants whose capacities were reported as wholly or partially unavailable were, in fact, unavailable.
