French Council of State on Monday canceled a Dec. 29, 2005 governmental order freezing natural gas tariffs for six months.
The order forced French state-controlled gas operator Gaz de France (1020848.FR) to sell natural gas at a price that was "obviously too low," the Council of State said.
At the end of 2005, the French government decided to freeze tariffs for the January-May 2006 period after having granted Gaz de France a 12% hike of its tariffs on Nov. 1, 2005.
Then in May 2006, the government raised natural gas tariffs by 5.8%.