Average energy retail prices for households in the EU decreased in 2017, reflecting for the second consecutive year the decline of energy wholesale prices in preceding years, also thanks to market integration. However, the non-contestable part of the bill (network costs, taxes, levies and other charges) continued to increase. Some of the non-contestable components of the bill have supported the development of renewable energies, which are key for the EU to fulfil the objectives of the Paris agreement against climate change.
The Annual Report on the Results of Monitoring the Internal Electricity and Natural Gas Markets was presented today in Brussels by the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) and the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER). For some retail and the gas wholesale market metrics, the Contracting Parties of the Energy Community are also included in the analysis.
In electricity, the full integration of day-ahead and intraday markets is getting closer, as illustrated, for example, by the high level of efficiency in the use of cross border capacity for day ahead trading - up to 86% in 2017. However, due to the limited capacity available for trading, cross-border exchanges continued to be discriminated against compared to exchanges within countries, to the detriment of end-consumers. In this respect, Alberto Pototschnig, ACER Director, advocated for an “enhanced amount of cross-border commercial capacity to be made available for trading, to bring more security of supply and better prices to citizens”.
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