According to the AdC, all suppliers of bottled gas should be able to operate anywhere in Portugal, but as a result of clauses imposed on regional retailers, customers were likely to have been paying higher prices than otherwise necessary due the resulting lack of competition in the regions.


In the case of the Portuguese mainland the restrictive clauses have been in place since 2000, the AdC found, in the case of the Azores a couple of years fewer and in Madeira for the past few years only.


In a statement, Galp described the ruling as “unjustified” and said it was analysing it to decided whether to exercise its legal right to contest it.


The company is already in a legal tussle with the government over an extraordinary levy on energy companies, which was recently extended to cover long-term gas supply contracts on which it made windfall profits in recent years.