EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 78/184

(2004/C 78 E/0190)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2868/03

by Brice Hortefeux (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(26 September 2003)

Subject: European electricity market

The electricity failure on 14 August 2003 in the USA and Canada left 50 million Americans and Canadians without electricity for 29 hours.

The salient characteristics of the North American system, which is completely liberalised and essentially comprises private operators, are the absence of integration, weak global regulation, and lack of cooperation between network operators. Furthermore, in recent years, the market had cut to a minimum investment in building or modernising electricity transport and production infrastructure in order to maximise profits. The US Government, for its part, had laid stress on an energy supply strategy rather than managing energy demand, in a country notable for overconsumption (Americans use twice as much electricity as Europeans).

Given the impending opening-up of the European electricity market, the issue of how that market would react to a crisis like that of 14 August is a legitimate concern. Does the Commission posses a comparative analysis, and if so, can it make this available?

Answer given by Ms de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(3 November 2003)

The blackout in Italy on 28 September 2003 showed that no system is immune to failure. A very high level of dependency on imports makes the Italian system more susceptible to problems.

The other network operators were able to prevent the blackout from spreading to other countries and the Italian electricity system was restored in a few hours — within a shorter time frame than in the United States.

The blackout in Italy was caused by a storm, which was clearly not the case in the United States. It is also clear that it was not caused by the process of opening up the market nor by the creation of an internal market in electricity. The blackout resulted from a failure in the transmission system, which remains in a monopoly position. It should also be noted that in Switzerland the transmission system operator is still incorporated in a company which is entirely vertically integrated and that this limits the transparency and effective management of the market.

The Commission does not possess a comparative study of the American and European systems. It will pursue its investigations into the blackout in Italy over the coming weeks.

However, a number of initiatives are already in preparation at EU level to deal with these issues. In this context, the second communication on infrastructure will be presented before the end of 2003. The first communication (1) has already set the target of a 10 % level of interconnection for all Member States. Even though this objective was approved by all Heads of State and Government at Barcelona, little progress has been achieved and higher levels of interconnection are needed in many countries.

Several concrete proposals will be presented, namely a Directive on the security of electricity supply, a revision of the guidelines for the trans-European networks and the extension and updating of the list of priority projects of European interest eligible for priority financing at EU level. Furthermore, the Commission will see to it that the work of the Union for the Co-ordination of Transmission of Electricity (UCTE) in continental Europe, towards completing the Manual of Standards for security and reliability is speeded up. This work is already well advanced. A method of ensuring that the rules of this manual are fully complied with remains to be determined.

It must be stressed, however, that the primary responsibility in this area lies with Member States. The biggest threat to the security of supply comes from disproportionate planning permission procedures. Europe needs new high-voltage electricity lines and new power stations. If difficult decisions are not taken at national level on these issues in the coming years, the problems encountered in California will begin to arise in Europe.

(1) OJ C 151 E, 25.6.2002.