WRITTEN QUESTION E-1008/00

by Marjo Matikainen-Kallström (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(31 March 2000)

Subject: Liberalisation of the market in electricity in Germany

According to reports in the media the liberalisation of the electricity market in Germany has taken place in a way which is contrary to the principles of open competition. Transfer charges are made in respect of transfers of electricity between the north and the south of the country, and these can account for as much as a quarter of the wholesale price of electricity. This procedure is not in conformity with the principles of free competition, because it strengthens the position of German large-scale firms and local operators at the expense of non-German competitors.

In view of the above, what does the Commission propose to do to investigate whether this state of affairs can be regarded as complying with the spirit of the objective of liberalising the EU's electricity market? How does the Commission propose to prevent the apparent liberalisation of the electricity markets, which damages free competition, from taking place in future in Germany and the other Member States of the Union?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(22 May 2000)

In implementing Directive 96/92/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 1996 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity(1), Germany has opened up its market immediately at a rate of 100 %, thereby going beyond the requirements of the Directive. As a result, electricity prices have already come down considerably in the German market.

However, it is important that the intention to open the market fully translates into concrete commercial activities in practice. According to the latest available information(2), the share of electricity imported into Germany amounts to around 8 % of total electricity consumption in Germany. To increase cross-border trade will require non-discriminatory access to the network for all companies wishing to sell within and to the German market. In this respect, the Commission, on the basis of a first, provisional analysis, has expressed its concerns about some rules contained in the second association agreement (Verbändevereinbarung), in particular with regard to the charges for transit between the southern and the northern part of Germany and imports, and has informed the associations accordingly.

At the Community level, the Florence Forum, which brings together the Commission, the Parliament, national administrations, the council of European regulators and the Association of European transmission system operators (ETSO), has been working on the development of a Community wide system of cross-border tarification. At the fifth Florence Forum in March 2000 an agreement was reached to develop a provisional cross border tarification mechanism based on compensation payments between national system operators, applicable for one year, to be replaced by a refined final system. The intention is that once the Community wide system is in place all existing national import and export charges, including in Germany, will be withdrawn.

In general, the Commission is aware that the different degrees of market opening in Member States can lead to difficulties in practice. The Commission therefore welcomed the call from the European Council at its meeting in Lisbon to speed up liberalisation in gas and electricity, with a view to a fully operational internal market in these areas.

(1) OJ L 27, 30.1.1997.

(2) Quarterly statistics on oil, gas, coal and electricity of the International Energy Agency (IEA), 4th Quarter 1999.