Electrabel under fire for overcharging clients

BRUSSELS, May 18 (Reuters) - The Belgian government criticised energy firm Electrabel (SULYt.BR: Quote, Profile, Research) over the weekend after a study found the firm had overcharged its industrial clients by over 1 billion euro ($1.55 billion) in 2005-07.

A report by Belgian energy regulator CREG has said Electrabel, controlled by French utilities giant Suez (LYOE.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), had charged its clients to cover CO2 emissions rights although under Europe's greenhouse gases' trading scheme it had received the rights for free.

"According to the energy minister, charging the companies for C02 quotas that have been granted for free is not acceptable," the minister, Paul Magnette, said in a statement late on Saturday.

He added the government would consider sharpening Belgium's energy law to avoid similar cases in the future and take measures to boost competition in the country's energy market.

Electrabel spokeswoman Lut Vande Velde said clients were free to buy electricity from other firms as Belgium is an open market, Belgian news agency Belga reported.

"We are operating in a competitive market. There are several suppliers," she was quoted as saying, adding electricity could also be imported from abroad.

But the minister said although the market was liberalised in theory it was still difficult for clients to change electricity supplier in practice. (Writing by Marcin Grajewski; Editing by Jason Neely)