The European Union should fully liberalise its electricity and gas markets, pursuing a controversial goal set by its executive last year, according to a report today by the International Energy Agency (IEA). The EU's executive European Commission proposed dividing ownership of gas and electricity supply from pipelines and grids in a drive to help new market entrants and force down prices. But European Union energy ministers yielded to pressure from France and Germany at a June summit, giving giant energy companies easier alternatives to being broken up. The European Parliament, which has powers of co-decision alongside the energy ministers, stuck firm to the Commission's initial preference for full ownership unbundling of electricity networks but agreed to compromise on gas.
The European Union should fully liberalise its electricity and gas markets, pursuing a controversial goal set by its executive last year, according to a report today by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The EU's executive European Commission proposed dividing ownership of gas and electricity supply from pipelines and grids in a drive to help new market entrants and force down prices.
But European Union energy ministers yielded to pressure from France and Germany at a June summit, giving giant energy companies easier alternatives to being broken up.
The European Parliament, which has powers of co-decision alongside the energy ministers, stuck firm to the Commission's initial preference for full ownership unbundling of electricity networks but agreed to compromise on gas.
what's not to love? ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
