(Finance) – Better protect consumers from excessive price volatility, support their access to safe energy from clean sources and make the market more resilient. With this aim the European Commission started one public consultation on the reform of the EU electricity market design.
“The current system – explains the Commission in a note – has for years given us an efficient and well-integrated market, which allows the EU to reap the economic benefits of a single energy market, guarantees security of supply and encourages the decarbonisation process some shortcomings emerged. In the current crisis characterized by high and volatile electricity prices, the economic burden has been passed on to the final consumers. A reform is therefore needed to better protect households and businesses from energy prices, increase resilience and accelerate the transition pursued by the European Green Deal and the REPowerEU plan. It is crucial that all Europeans, from large industrial consumers to SMEs and households, benefit from the growth and low operating costs of renewable energy. Ensuring all consumers have direct access to clean energy at affordable prices will require market-based instruments to obtain more stable prices and contracts based on the real costs of production”.
There consultation launched today it will contribute to the work of the Commission to prepare a legislative proposal tentatively expected for the first quarter of this year. The consultation will last until 13 February and will focus on four main areas: reducing the dependence of electricity bills on short-term prices of fossil fuels and promoting the diffusion of renewable energies; improve market functioning to ensure security of supply and make full use of alternatives such as storage and demand response; strengthen consumer protection and empowerment;
improve transparency, surveillance and market integrity.
“The EU electricity market has proven itself for more than two decades, but the unprecedented energy crisis we are facing,” he said Kadri Simson, EU Commissioner for Energy – demonstrates that it needs to be future-proof, so that it can offer everyone the benefits of clean energy at affordable prices. I look forward to input from a broad range of stakeholders who will inform our legislative proposal this year.”
From the summer of 2021 i energy prices experienced unprecedented spikes and volatility, with serious repercussions on households and the EU economy. To alleviate the consequences of these market dynamics, the Commission has proposed and Member States have approved a wide range of emergency measures to deal with rising energy prices, while ensuring security of supply.
The European Council called on the Commission to work rapidly on the structural reform of the electricity market, with the dual objective of guaranteeing Europe’s energy sovereignty and achieving climate neutrality. The planned reform of the electricity market framework was announced last year by the President von der Leyen in its annual State of the Union address and is included in the Commission’s Work Program for 2023 Energy Commissioner Simson presented the guidelines for an improved design of the electricity market to the energy ministers at the Energy Council on 19 December.