The Energy Market Design Proposal: risking re-regulating the Internal Market?

The Commission’s proposal to revise the EU’s Electricity Market Design is one of the most important legislative acts tabled under this College.

It has a number of key objectives including;

• protecting customers from energy poverty, inflation, and future price shocks,
• energy security – notably protecting against insufficient hedging by both customers and suppliers, as well as improved access of TSOs to flexibility;
• access of customers to low-cost RES through energy communities and sharing, two-way contracts for differences and power purchase agreements,
• functioning of the market, notably via the improved operation of forward markets, and
• updating REMIT.

The Commission has proposed to maintain a clear market-based approach, with the Internal Electricity Market containing to be founded on marginal pricing and not envisaging to grandfather inframarginal price caps or permit single buyer type models. However, certain Member States have argued for a more interventionist option, for example with the possibility to impose regulated prices on certain existing assets.

The event will be hosted by Andris Piebalgs and Christopher Jones, FSR. Leonardo Meeus, the Director of FSR, will present the conclusions of his recently published paper on these issues, followed by comments from Catharina Sikow-Magny, Director of DG Energy, Nicolás González Casares, Member of European Parliament, Rapporteur for the legislative file to improve the Union’s electricity market, and Pierre Tardieu, Chief Policy Officer, Wind Europe.