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E.on acquired the networks and sales division of RWE, which in turn took over E.on and Innogy’s renewables assets, boosting its portfolio to more than 9GW, under an asset swap����𲹱�.

It was approved by the European Commission and German competition regulator in September 2019 and will be finalised when it is listed in the German commercial register.

RWE told �u�X��ʘ��� this was expected in the coming months, and that it did not believe the transaction would be reversed as a result of the filing to the ECJ.

The 11 energy companies claim the merger will significantly restrict competition in electricity generation and marketing in Europe and Germany.

They argue that RWE and E.on dividing functions of the energy market between them and then avoiding competition between one another means the companies will gain an unfair advantage.

In a joint statement they claimed the deal was “clearing the way for two national champions at the expense of medium-sized companies”.

Thomas Banning, CEO of Naturstrom — one of the signatories — added: “Like us, others are successful with decentralised and regenerative concepts in the energy market and it is becoming increasingly clear that the business models of RWE and E.on will no longer work. 

“So they use their existing political and economic power to secure their benefices by reorganising the market.”

RWE told �u�X��ʘ��� it does “not share the plaintiffs' assessment” and is “convinced that the clearance decision will continue to exist”. 

An E.on spokesman added: “In general, we consider the cartel approval to be a rock-solid one because, in our view, the clearance was granted by the European Commission after a very careful and correspondingly lengthy and intensive procedure. 

“During this procedure, all parties concerned had the opportunity to submit comments and were sufficiently heard.”