Energy market to be consolidated?

According to the Energy Minister Krzysztof Tchórzewski, the government is mulling further consolidating power companies it controls, however he claimed that he is not an instigator of such discussions. “Various discussions are being conducted, including this subject, but such ideas are not inspired by me, I am only an observer to them,” Tchórzewski said. According to media reports, PM Mateusz Morawiecki wants to merge four biggest state-run utilities Tauron, PGE, Energa, and Enea into two large companies, with Enea-Tauron and PGE-Energa mergers seen as the most likely scenario. According to Tchórzewski however, EU’s antitrust regulations might block the process. “Whether the conditions in Europe changed to the point that what counts is competition on the European level rather than domestic one, whether the [EC] notification would be easier as a result - this I do not know,” he explained. He pointed out, that back in 2016 when he was involved in creating the current model on the power market, the government initially planned to have three utilities, but the European Commission forced it to have four. Now the process would have to be reversed.