Brussels / Strasbourg, 26 March 2019 | Europex, the Association of European Energy Exchanges, welcomes today’s adoption of the four remaining files of the Clean Energy for All Europeans package by the plenary of the European Parliament. These concern the recast Electricity Regulation and Directive, the Regulation on risk-preparedness in the electricity sector and the recast ACER Regulation. This new framework represents significant progress towards the further integration of the EU Internal Energy Market. In the following, we would like to highlight four major improvements: 1. A strengthened role for electricity wholesale markets, based on the principle of free price
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Article 13 (9) of the Electricity Regulation: The basic implementation phase for reconfigured bidding zones should be 24 instead of 12 months
Brussels, 8 November 2018 | Ensuring bidding zones are configured efficiently is necessary in order to address long-term structural congestion. However, any change to the configuration of bidding zones has a fundamental impact on the functioning of wholesale electricity markets. While the change itself, once implemented, may bring about overall benefits the transition process itself comes at a cost which is ultimately passed on to the electricity consumers. In order to minimise this cost and to leave the market enough time to adapt, the implementation phase needs to be appropriate and must guarantee a smooth transition. Recent experience has shown
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Capacity allocation in Article 14 of the Electricity Regulation recast: Setting the right principles to maximise transmission capacity available for trading in order to foster further market integration
Brussels, 8 November 2018 | In the EU’s internal energy market, the amount of trade between bidding zones is constrained by the amount of available cross-zonal transmission capacity. Maximising the amount of the cross-zonal capacity available to the market, while respecting necessary operational security standards, is therefore a prerequisite for achieving an efficient integrated internal energy market and realising the associated increase in welfare. In this context, the process to calculate and allocate capacity on the bidding zone borders is vitally important. However, there is significant scope to improve the current situation. The ACER 2017 Market Monitoring Report (MMR) compared
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Electricity market design – Europex positions on the Electricity Regulation, Electricity Directive and the ACER Regulation
Brussels, 11 October 2018 | The trilogue negotiations for the electricity market design files (the draft recasts of the Electricity Regulation, Electricity Directive and ACER Regulation) are well under way. At this stage it is crucial that all parties can agree on workable solutions grounded in market realities. Overall, this is an opportunity to ensure that wholesale markets are efficient, accessible and are ready to meet the challenges of the energy transition. This paper raises five aspects emerging from the negotiations so far which we believe are necessary to address or maintain. A comparison of the positions of the Commission,
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The Essential Tasks of Third Party Market Operators/Facilitators in the Electricity Market (update)
Brussels, 16 August 2018 (updated)| In a number of EU Member States/EEA countries, certain functions related to the operation of the electricity market, which are necessary for the electricity market to work efficiently, are carried out by non-TSO third parties rather than by TSOs. These third parties, also called “Third Party Market Operators/Facilitators”or“Delegated Operators”, and the vital roles they play,are recognised in the European Network Codes and Guidelines. The tasks performed by these third parties include, among others, imbalance calculation and settlement, data publication related to electricity balancing markets and issuing of the rules related to balancing markets. These tasks
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Europex General Assembly calls for strong market focus during Clean Energy Package market design trilogues
Brussels, 23 May 2018 | At its annual meeting on Friday last week, 18 May 2018, in Paris, France, the Europex General Assembly discussed the current state of the Clean Energy for All Europeans package with a special emphasis on market design aspects. Considering the general direction of the current debate and the remaining differences between the Commission’s legislative proposal, the European Parliament’s report and the Council’s general approach, the members of the Europex General Assembly agreed that market principles need to be put back in focus during the trilogue negotiations starting in July. While there are a multitude of
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Joint statement by Eurelectric, Europex, WindEurope and EFET: Regulated retail prices
Brussels, 6 February 2018 | For the attention of the European Parliament and Council The Clean Energy for All Europeans Package provides a unique opportunity to empower European energy consumers. It enables them to be more involved in the electricity system whilst ensuring that vulnerable consumers are not left behind. Consumers will only be empowered through a combination of measures – such as efficient price signals, certified comparison tools and easy switching. Should retail prices continue to be regulated in some Member States, the benefits brought by the Clean Energy Package would be severely weakened. Regulating retail prices impedes consumers from
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Electricity market design: Europex urges continued focus on robust market principles
Brussels, 5 February 2018 | Europex generally welcomes the Council’s General Approach on electricity market design (recasts of the Electricity Regulation and Directive, as published on 20 December 2017) which makes positive steps towards achieving more integrated, liquid and efficient wholesale electricity markets in Europe. Properly functioning energy markets, and the resulting reliable price signals constitute the most effective means to meet the challenges of an evolving energy sector and to deliver energy to European citizens in a reliable, affordable and climate-friendly way. While there are some aspects which we believe could be further improved in the Council’s General Approach,
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Strengthening the regional approach to system operation to boost renewables’ integration. Joint statement by Client Earth, EFET, Eurelectric, Europex, RAP, SEDC, SolarPower Europe and Wind Europe
Brussels, 26 October 2017 | Europe needs to integrate ever-growing shares of renewable energy sources into the wholesale power market. This path is a no brainer for Europe and for the signatories of this statement. Today however, a number of hurdles are in the way of reaching this goal. This is in particular the case for cross-border capacity allocation. ACER data has clearly shown that less than 50% of the “benchmark capacity” was offered to the market in 2016 and that, on a large range of EU borders, the part of the “benchmark capacity” offered to the market was even
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Europex response to the Council Revision of the Electricity Regulation and Directive (recasts) – Improvements still needed to achieve efficient markets
Brussels, 24 October 2017 | Europex supports the efforts of the Council to increase clarity on certain market design aspects in the proposed recasts of the Electricity Regulation and Directive. As previously set out in our position paper of 9 Aug. 2017, Europex believes the Commission proposals broadly recognise the importance of enabling well-functioning wholesale markets and strong market price signals in all Member States. However, as the texts are further discussed in the Council and the European Parliament, Europex calls for the following important points to be taken into account: Full and equal balancing responsibility for renewables Recognition of
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