Nov 23 2005
The UK Energy Minister has called for full and frank discussions with his European counterparts on the "serious malfunctions" identified by the Commission in the European energy market. Lack of reform is widely recognised as keeping gas and electricity prices unnecessarily high for business and domestic consumers across the EU economy.
In a scene setting speech in advance of next month's Energy Council, Malcolm Wicks will outline to the European gas industry gathered in London the benefits that increased competition could bring.
In a keynote address to the European Autumn Gas Conference, held in London's Docklands and attended by up to 500 delegates from 38 countries, he will say:
"The latest independent league table published today again confirms the UK as the most competitive gas and electricity market among all EU and G7 countries. For the best part of a decade our industrial and domestic prices have been among the lowest - if not the lowest - in Europe. Consumers have enjoyed greater choice, improved standards of service and better deals for the most vulnerable in our society.
"These benefits were not achieved easily but we've learned important lessons from which others could learn. It's widely accepted that lack of reform in EU markets, in spite of community directives, is keeping prices unnecessarily high for consumers - industrial and household - across the Continent.
"With increasing global trade in gas and the emergence of major new economies, competition for supplies is increasing, pushing prices up. The UK has been in the vanguard in pressing for greater and faster reform to put the EU single energy market on a stronger footing.
"It's no accident that I'm making these comments little more than a week before I chair the EU Energy Council in Brussels. I'll be putting the Commission's interim reports up front, top of the agenda. And I'll be looking around the table for a full and frank discussion about how the EU can move the single energy market forward on behalf of all of its consumers and its vital industries."
Last Tuesday (15 November) the European Commission published the interim findings of its probe into the electricity and gas sectors and of its analysis of the functioning of the internal market in electricity and gas. It identified "serious malfunctions" and called on Member States to "quickly and fully implement the gas and electricity directives not only in letter but also in spirit". It also asserted that "energy is vital to the competitiveness of the EU economy" and therefore it was "determined to use competition law to protect European industry and consumers". The reports will be presented formally to the EU Energy Council in Brussels on 1 December.
http://www.gnn.gov.uk/