From the Wall Street Journal:
The European Union's powerful competition commissioner slapped two energy companies with record fines of $1.53 billion today for cartel misbehavior. GDF Suez and E.ON, two of the world's biggest gas producers, colluded to avoid competition in French and German energy markets and drive up prices. It's the first time that the commission has imposed antitrust fines on an energy company, reports the Wall Street Journal.
"Market sharing is one of the worst types of antitrust infringement," said commissioner Neelie Kroes. "This agreement deprived customers of more price competition and more choice of supplier in two of the largest gas markets in the European Union." GDF Suez plans to appeal the fine.
In my opinion the large oil companies have been fixing prices for a very long time. I come from the generation that remembers gas wars and prices as low as 19 cents a gallon and when you filled your tank, you got Green Stamps or a set of dishes, glasses, or tableware. That's when there was competition between oil companies.
If you don't think that there is collusion to fix prices, look around at the different brands and see if you can find any real difference in prices.
