Spain's competition regulator CNMC opened a formal probe into grid operator Red Eléctrica over "very serious" alleged infringements linked to the Iberian blackout of 28 April 2025, and launched separate "serious" infringement probes into power generators Iberdrola, Naturgy, Endesa and Repsol. It is the first time, nearly one year on, that Spanish authorities have assigned different degrees of wrongdoing to companies tied to the outage, which cut power to nearly 60mn people in Spain and Portugal.
The CNMC opened five probes apiece into Iberdrola, Naturgy and Endesa, and one into Repsol. Against Red Eléctrica — whose parent is led by former Socialist minister Beatriz Corredor — the regulator is citing the law's provisions on scheduling of power generation, balancing the grid, information sharing and instructions to power suppliers. A 49-day Spanish government investigation completed in June 2025 had already spread blame between "bad planning" by the grid operator and errors at power plants. European grid operators earlier called the event "the first of its kind" and demanded continent-wide reforms.
Final conclusions from the CNMC probes will take nine to 18 months. The regulator stressed that the indications of wrongdoing are not necessarily the causes of the blackout, which "had multiple causes". Source: Financial Times, 17 April 2026, Barney Jopson.
The story in one line. Spain’s competition regulator CNMC has opened formal probes into grid operator Red Eléctrica and the country’s four largest power generators over alleged infringements linked to last April’s catastrophic Iberian blackout — the first official allocation of possible wrongdoing since the event.
Key numbers
- “Very serious” alleged breaches being probed at Red Eléctrica — the most severe category under Spanish electricity law.
- 5 probes each opened into Iberdrola, Naturgy and Endesa over “serious” breaches; 1 probe into Repsol.
- Nearly 60mn people lost power across Spain and Portugal on 28 April 2025.
- 9 to 18 months for the CNMC probes to deliver final conclusions.
- 49-day government investigation completed in June 2025 already spread blame between grid operator and power plants.
Why it matters
The CNMC (Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia — Spain’s combined competition and markets regulator) stopped short of naming a cause, stating that the “indications of non-compliance” it is investigating “do not, in themselves, imply attributing the origin or cause of the blackout to the affected companies, given that the incident had multiple causes.” The practical point is that, until the regulator concludes, affected businesses and households cannot secure compensation.
Red Eléctrica — parent led by former Socialist minister Beatriz Corredor — denies wrongdoing and has consistently blamed power plant operators. The generators have declined to comment. The immediate technical cause, per European grid operators and the Spanish government, was voltage fluctuations that triggered a cascade of plant disconnections.
Takeaway
A year on, the legal phase is finally beginning, but conclusions are 9 to 18 months away. For Iberdrola, Naturgy and Endesa, the probe becomes a running tail risk on earnings and dividends. For European grid policy, the Iberian event — already labelled “the first of its kind” by European grid operators — remains the precedent shaping calls for continent-wide reforms.
Source: Financial Times, 17 April 2026, Barney Jopson.