Communication: Delivering a new deal for energy consumers

The Energy Union Framework Strategy sets out the vision of an Energy Union "with citizens at its core, where citizens take ownership of the energy transition, benefit from new technologies to reduce their bills, participate actively in the market, and where vulnerable consumers are protected".

While the past decade has transformed the energy sector in Europe, retail energy markets, which form the focus of this communication, have not kept up. Obstacles to consumers – households, businesses and industry - fully benefitting from the ongoing energy transition, meaningfully controlling their consumption, and lowering their bills include:

- The lack of appropriate information on costs and consumption, or limited transparency in offers, makes it difficult for consumers (or reliable intermediaries and energy service companies, such as aggregators, acting on their behalf) to assess the market situation and opportunities.
- Increasing proportion of network charges, taxes and particularly levies in the average final household electricity bill.
- Insufficient competition in many retail markets, a lack of reward for active participation, and difficulties in switching act as disincentives.
- Insufficiently developed markets for residential energy services and demand response narrow consumers' choices.
- Preventing consumers from self-generation and self-consumption reduces potential gains to them.
- Unequal access to information and high entry barriers for new competitors slow down the adoption of available advanced technologies and practices such as smart metering, smart appliances, distributed energy sources and energy efficiency improvements.

The Commission's vision for the new electricity market design aims to deliver a new deal for energy consumers, including by better linking wholesale and retail markets. Taking advantage of new technology, new and innovative energy service companies should enable all consumers to fully participate in the energy transition, managing their consumption to deliver energy efficient solutions which save them money and contribute to overall reduction of energy consumption.

ESO: Background information: Transforming Europe's energy system - Commission's energy summer package leads the way http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-transforming-europes-energy-system-commissions-energy-summer-package-leads-the-way/

EUR-Lex: SWD(2015)141: Best practices on renewable energy self-consumption http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2015:141:FIN

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