European energy markets and EU regulatory policy have an ever-increasing influence on energy markets and consumers in Britain.
Pipelines and wires link us physically to Europe, meaning European energy prices have a major influence on energy prices here. Most European energy markets are not as liberalised as those in Britain.
Policy debate on EU liberalisation and regulation is developing rapidly. The European Commission undertook important work in 2006 on assessing the implementation of existing legislation and on a competitive review of the energy markets. This culminated in the Commission’s 'Strategic Energy Review', which was published on 10 January 2007.
Further EU legislation on single market and other EU issues is expected by around September 2007.
Key European Organisations
Ofgem engages fully with other European regulators and the European Commission, in addition to continuing our close work with the BERR (previously known as DTI) on European energy issues, in order to take forward this agenda.
In particular, we use our membership of the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) and the advisory group of European Energy Regulators (ERGEG) to make the case for full and rapid implementation of the Directives and Regulations. Ofgem Chairman, Lord Mogg, is currently Chair of ERGEG and President of CEER.