Two days ago Nellie Kroes the EU commisionner stated that in a short while, when her competition report on the Utilities sector in Europe comes out, she is likely to investigate some of the larger companies for monopolistic tendencies. She even used the words anti-trust investigation an American style of investigation similar to the ones brought against Microsoft.

E.On's announcement that they have bid €29.1bn for Endessa, to create the largest Utility in Europe, if allowed to go through, would probably cause Nellie to give up and go home, whilst the EU utility market turns into a circus. To give one an idea of this merger, the combined E.On and Endessa would have over 50million customers in 30 European countries. The combined value of the company would be €55bn, aiming to compete with the oil majors. The irony is that if the UK government had not made National Power and PowerGen divest plant and effectively reduce their size then those companies would have bought some of the smaller players in the European market perhaps there would have been large players with true competition rather than a regulated oligopoly, something the UK knows only too well.