The EDP was ordered to pay three million euros to five city councils for not sharing the revenues from telecommunications companies laying cables through lampposts, Jornal de Notícias (JN) reported today.
According to the mayors, cited by JN, these positions are municipal property and have been transferred to the EDP concession. “The contracts allow the electricity company to monetize the infrastructure – if the CHP plant agrees and receives compensation. In total, about 50 million euros could be at stake, ”adds the same newspaper.
In 2015, the Gaia Chamber called for an arbitral tribunal to decide on the distribution of the money telecom companies pay to the EDP to run cables through the lamp posts. The following year, the court ordered the EDP to transfer half of the income, that is, 461 thousand euros, for the period from 2005 to 2015, plus late fees. This chamber was followed by four more: Santo Tirso with 65 thousand euros, Alcacer do Sal with 40 thousand, Oliveira de Azemeis with 800 thousand and Santa Maria da Feira with 1.8 million euros.
In turn, the EDP filed an appeal with the Central Administrative Court of the South, which refused to make any decisions on the case, since it does not accept “appeals from the arbitration courts.” Faced with this situation, the electricity company filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Administrative Court, upholding the decision of the second instance.
“In the arguments presented to the arbitral tribunal, the chambers refer to the law and the concession agreement in the part that obliges the EDP to obtain permission and negotiate the division of revenues if the infrastructure (for example, electric poles) is used for purposes other than concession (distribution of electricity of low But the EDP, they say, has never asked for permission or proposed revenue sharing, ”explains JN.
In statements published in the same newspaper, the EDP provided a summary of the reasoning: “The law requires the infrastructure to be made available to telecommunications companies, and the amount charged is intended to offset the costs of construction, maintenance, repair and improvement of infrastructure. In addition, the cost is deducted from the cost of operating the network for the benefit of all consumers. ”
