Brussels, 12/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Commissioner for energy, Loyola de Palacio, is to present a communication and a draft directive on Tuesday proposing the liberalisaion of the gas and electricity market for all consumers by 2005, and setting out rules for the pricing of energy transit. Announced a long while back and requested at the Lisbon Summit a year ago, this proposal will be presented at the Summit of Stockholm on 23 and 24 March (see EUROPE of 18 January, p.17).
Ms. de Palacio should propose: 1) liberalising the market or all companies in 2003 for electricity and 2004 for gas, then for all consumers for both sectors in 2005; 2) imposing the creation of an independent regulator in national administrations responsible for, among other things, for approving prices (one point on which Germany has already let it be known that it is reluctant); 3) legally separating network management from energy production; 4) defining more precisely the obligations of public service, notably in terms of the guarantee of supply; 5) setting non-discriminatory rules for transparency in the pricing for energy transit. The Commission is also said to intend implement, while waiting for the final system, to implement a transitional system defined in the framework of the For a of Florence for electricity and Madrid for gas, and based on costs linked to the actual physical transit. Such a system would rule out additional transit taxes that Germany and Belgium intend imposing.
Energy markets have already been open to competition for to large "eligible" energy consumers, in February 1999 for electricity and August 2000 for gas. Liberalisation has exceeded all expectations as 78% of consumption is already liberalised in the gas sector on average in the EU (instead of the 28% in 2003 provided for by the European directive) and 66% in the electricity sector (compared to 35% for 2003). The degree of liberalisation does however differ depending on Member States, ranging from 100% in the United Kingdom and Germany, and 20/30% in several other Member States. The Commission's intention is to speed-up liberalisation everywhere, to avoid distortions to competition, and facilitate cross-border transit, so as to create a "genuine single energy market and not fifteen superimposed markets", according to Commissioner de Palacio's formula.