EU antitrust regulators have carried out dawn raids on energy companies in six EU countries on suspicion of abusing their market power.

The raids, which were made on Tuesday 16th May by officials from the relevant national regulators, targeted gas groups in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, and Italy and electricity firms in Hungary.

The EU said in its statement: “The commission has reason to believe that the companies concerned may have violated (EU) antitrust rules that prohibit restrictive business practices and/or abuse of a dominant market position,”

Whilst the EU executive did not name the firms that had been visited, Austrian energy firm OMV, Belgian gas groups Fluxys and Distrigas, German utilities RWE and E.ON, French state-controlled Gaz de France, Italian energy group ENI and Hungarian state-owned power supplier MVM all said that they had received inspections.

EU Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd stressed that the raids, which mark the first steps in probes into suspected anti-competitive practices, did not necessarily mean that the companies were guilty of breaking EU law.

Inspectors were looking for evidence that the gas companies had restricted access to pipelines and storage facilities and agreed to divide the market.

Brussels has long complained about a lack of competition among EU energy companies and earlier this year warned that it would use its antitrust powers to crack down on companies it considered to be blocking competition.

The threat came after the commission uncovered “serious malfunctions” in the energy market during an ongoing sector-wide inquiry.

Several months are now likely to be needed before the EU regulators decide to lodge formal charges against the companies targeted by the raids.