Cable cartel generated overcharge, says CAT

31/10/25

The Competition Appeal Tribunal has held that a windfarm in the Thames Estuary paid inflated prices for ‘export’ cables by reason of a power cables cartel. The windfarm, known as London Array, was at the time of its completion the largest offshore windfarm in the world. The ‘export’ cables connect the offshore windfarm with the onshore electricity network.

The cartel was established by a European Commission Decision dating from 2014, which was upheld on appeal by the Court of Justice of the EU in 2020.

The addressees of the Decision included companies within the Nexans group, which is headquartered in France. The export cables were supplied by a Norwegian company within the same group, which was not an addressee. The Defendants argued that the company which supplied the cables set the prices independently of the French addressee companies, meaning that there was no overcharge, but the CAT - whilst recognising that the employees of the Norwegian company who worked on the project were not aware of the cartel - rejected that argument.

The CAT went on to quantify the export cable overcharge. London Array alleged an overcharge of 16.8%. In the event, the CAT held the overcharge was 5%. This is only the second judgment in this jurisdiction quantifying a cartel overcharge.

London Array also alleged that it had suffered an overcharge on the ‘inter-array’ cables, which are the cables which run between the offshore turbines. That was a claim for “umbrella” damages, as those cables were supplied by an undertaking which had not taken part in the cartel. However, the CAT held that no overcharge had been proven in relation to the inter-array cables.

The question whether any overcharge had been passed-on pursuant to the terms of the Renewables Obligation Certificate scheme was subject to a trial held consecutively with the overcharge trial. The Tribunal has now held that there was no such pass-on.

The judgment is here.