Spain's Naturgy has been investigated for possible anti-competitive practices in the country's electricity distribution market, the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) said Wednesday.

The CNMC searched two Naturgy offices as part of the investigation, it said in a statement.

The watchdog will investigate whether Naturgy's electricity unit, UFD, "would have given preferential and discriminatory treatment to incidents and complaints filed by certain marketers between 2021 and 2022, to the detriment of third-party independent marketers," according to the statement.

The results of the investigation must be presented within 24 months.

UFD complies with all regulations in its relations with wholesalers without favoring any, a Naturgy spokesman said, adding that the company would cooperate with the CNMC during the investigation.

The watchdog fined Naturgy €6 million ($6.45 million) in July 2023 for manipulating electricity prices in a specific market segment in 2019-2020.

(1 US dollar = 0.9305 euros)

(Reporting by Matteo Allievi; editing by Inti Landauro and Jason Neely; Spanish editing by Benjamín Mejías Valencia)