EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 84/760

(2004/C 84 E/0857)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0092/04

by Herbert Bösch (PSE) to the Commission

(21 January 2004)

Subject: Evolution of electricity prices, investment in the energy sector

The German newspaper Handelsblatt reports on pages 1 and 9 of its 7 January 2004 edition that the energy company RWE is profiting from greatly increased electricity prices. In the Austrian Standard of 2 January 2004 the chairman of the board of EVN calls for a rise in network prices with a view to improve chances of achieving a minimum profit of 7 % on invested capital.

Can the Commission state how electricity prices for private households, small and medium-sized enterprises and large-scale consumers have evolved over the past five to ten years in the EU countries that have fully or partially privatised the energy sector?

How have they evolved in energy undertakings that are under State control?

How has investment in the electricity networks of European energy concerns developed since their (partial) privatisation?

To what extent have private energy companies invested in alternative energy sources in the past ten years?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(1 March 2004)

Prices have been relatively stable since 1997 in nominal terms; this amounts to a considerable reduction in real terms across all groups. Small and medium sized enterprises have been the beneficiaries of price reductions, especially where competition has been introduced. Non-liberalised Member States have also delivered stable prices, but on a higher level. Many of the differences in prices between Member States can be explained by a lack of sufficient interconnection capacity which segments the European market. The Commission has examined this issue a number of times, notably in the Green Paper towards a European strategy for the security of energy supply (1) and most recently in the Communication on Energy Infrastructure and Security of Supply (2).

2003 has seen an upward trend which is expected to continue into 2004 since new investment in generation capacity will be needed in the next few years. A separate information note providing some background to current price trends will be sent direct to the Honourable Member and to the Secretariat General of the Parliament.

It is difficult to draw any firm conclusions about the effect of different ownership structures. In the countries which have a significant degree of state ownership of electricity generation, such as Ireland, Italy and Portugal, prices are rather high with France around the EU average, whereas prices for households in Greece are very low. In the Member States with ‘privatised’ electricity provision, prices in Belgium and Germany are above and those in the Nordic Member States below the EU average.

The Commission does not have detailed information on the level of investment by network companies.

The ‘Bundesverband Windenergie’ reports that cumulative investment of over EUR 1 billion has been made by private companies in Germany since 1990. Wind installations in Germany currently comprise around half of the total in the EU.

(1) COM(2000) 769 final.

(2) COM(2003) 743 final.