EDP goes legal to keep €285 million of overpaid taxpayers’ money

EDP’s relentless quest to relieve Portugal’s taxpayers of cash continues, as the company stated today that it will go to court to keep hold of the €285 million that the government is demanding back.

EDP ??has filed a petition challenging the acts that oblige it to pay over the money, a sum the State claims was ‘overcalculated.’

“Consistent with the position it expressed in September, EDP decided to proceed with its challenge to the laws that demand the repayment of €285 million, due to an alleged overcompensation regarding the calculation of the availability of plants that operated in the Cost of Maintenance of Contractual Equilibrium scheme,” read today’s statement.

The government’s demands, “violate the law and should be considered null, because they lack theoretical, economic and legal basis, and significantly affect the compensation due,” said an EDP official.

On September 27th last year, EDP announced to the market that its board unanimously had decided, in defence of shareholders’ interests, to go to court.

The Executive Committee, led by António Mexia, will challenge the decision of the former Secretary of State, Jorge Seguro Sanches, which was based on the regulator’s study covering the first decade of the CMEC scheme, during which EDP raked in €510 million from the State under the CMEC scheme.