The Federal Antimonopoly Service in Sverdlovsk Region ordered Teplovodocanal Ltd., the local water supplier, to stop violating competition law (Article 5 (paragraph 1) of Competition and Monopoly Limitations on Commodities Markets Bill).

The Service received a complaint from Sredneuralskiy Teplovodocanal Ltd. that claimed that Teplovodocanal Ltd. was exerting pressure on them to make them sign an additional agreement providing for maintenance of sewerage and in-house services. These two companies had already signed a water supplying and wastewater-handling agreement.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service in Sverdlovsk Region found Teplovodocanal Ltd. guilty of violating the antimonopoly legislation and demanded that it withdraw from its subscribers the letters it has sent to them concerning justification of why they had to pay for an additional agreement (when the local company could do the service just as well).

Prior to the case, the company has sent its clients information letters saying that if they failed to sign an additional agreement, it would have to unsubscribe them from the main network, reports the spokesperson for Federal Antimonopoly Service in Sverdlovsk Region.