European Commission to investigate British power capacity auction

LONDON (Reuters) - The European Commision will open an in-depth investigation into Britain's power capacity auction as instructed by the European Court, a spokesman for Europe's competition watchdog said on Friday.

An EU court ruled last week that Britain must halt payments, worth billions of pounds, under the scheme, pending an investigation by European Union regulators.

"The Commission understands the importance of a prompt resolution of this matter for the market," the spokesman said in an emailed statement.

(Reporting By Foo Chee Yun in Brussels, writing by Susanna Twidale in London)