Energy Market Reforms in the EU

Abstract

Energy market liberalization in Europe started in the 1990s by giving consumers a choice of supply. The EU electricity market directive of 2019 reiterates the focus on consumers. It envisages that ‘citizens take ownership of the energy transition’ and participate actively in the market. At the same time, the directive aims at protecting vulnerable consumers and at mitigating energy poverty. Yet, it provides Member States with considerable freedom in defining these concepts. The directive suggests that small customers might develop into two categories—one which actively participates in the market and reaps market benefits, and one which is unable to do so and thus will remain vulnerable and at risk of falling into energy poverty. This chapter discusses whether this potential discrepancy and lacking common EU approach towards the concept of vulnerable customers and energy poverty could result in distributive and social energy injustice among small customers in the EU.

AI and Energy Justice

“…This emerging strand of energy law research investigates whether and how the law can aid to realize energy justice and what kinds of legal reforms are necessary to achieve this. This literature includes studies that investigate to what extent EU primary legislation promotes energy justice [21], as well as studies that apply energy justice to topics such as network tariffs [30], energy poverty and the protection of vulnerable consumers [31], the regulation of the heat market [27], energy communities [32], and community benefits in the context of the construction of renewable energy projects [33]. However, superficial attention has been given in energy law research to the energy justice implications of digitalization and the increasing collection and processing of data in the electricity sector.…”

Enabling independent flexibility service providers to participate in electricity markets: A legal analysis of the Belgium case

“…Low levels of consumer engagement in DR can be attributed to insufficient economic incentives, lacking information and knowledge about benefiting from DR, as well as the high level of complexity and effort required by DR (EC, 2016;Good et al, 2017;Leinauer et al, 2022;Parrish et al, 2020). The CEP seeks to address these barriers by overcoming disadvantages faced by consumers and empowering them to obtain economic benefits from valorising flexibility in various electricity market segments (Electricity Directive, Recitals 37 and 52, Articles 3 and Chapter III; Roggenkamp and Diestelmeier, 2020). A central approach is to enable IFSPs engaged in aggregating and trading flexibility to facilitate market participation of energy consumers (Electricity Directive, Recital 39, Article 2 (18)).…”