WRITTEN QUESTION E-1167/02 by Rolf Berend (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Internal market in electricity and natural gas.
Date: 2002-04-23
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: competition law, electrical industry, energy grid, gas industry, liberalisation of the market, price fluctuation, single market

C 301 E/96

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

5.12.2002

(2002/C 301 E/100)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1167/02

by Rolf Berend (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(23 April 2002)

Subject: Internal market in electricity and natural gas

1.
Is there a possibility that the Commission proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of
the Council amending Directives 96/92/EC (1) and 98/30/EC (2) concerning common rules for the internal
market in electricity and natural gas (as it stands at present) could lead to variations in net utilisation prices
between

(a)

rural areas and conurbations and

(b) East and West Germany?

2. Would it be possible to extend the management of networks in separate companies, as called for by
the European Parliament for many years in order to guarantee non-discriminatory network management,
so as to allay any such concerns?

How does the Commission view the ownership unbundling of energy networks which the European

3.
Parliament has also called for?

Does it have any information on developments in overall electricity and gas prices in conurbations

4.
and rural areas?

(1) OJ L 27, 30.1.1997, p. 20.
(2) OJ L 204, 21.7.1998, p. 1.

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(14 June 2002)

1.
The Directives to which the Honourable Member refers introduce competition in the electricity and
gas sectors. Competition entails more efficiency and a better reflection of costs. Germany has chosen to
open the electricity and gas markets fully to competition, meaning that all customers are in principle free
to change their supplier if they find better prices, better service or a better product with another supplier
than their traditional supplier offers.

In Germany, supply companies are free to modify their prices according to the customers in question.
They can,
in practice, offer different prices to customers with similar consumption pattern, be they
industrial or domestic customers. The implementation of the Directives in Germany could thus lead to
different prices for similar customers. This could be as a reaction of suppliers to a threat by customers to
switch supplier or a reflection of higher or lower costs to supply particular customers. Price differences
applied by different suppliers in Germany already exist, mainly as a result of differences in network costs
for distribution between different areas and different system operators.

2.
Under the current Electricity Directive (Directive 96/92/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of
19 December 1996 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity), the management of
networks needs to be carried out separately from other activities like generation and sales of electricity and
separate accounts need to be maintained. In the gas sector the existing Directive limits the unbundling of
the network operators to a separation of accounts.

Experience with the two Directives has shown that mere management and accounting unbundling cannot
guarantee independent behaviour from the network operators. For this reason the Commission, responding
to a call by the Parliament and the overwhelming majority of actors on these markets, proposes to
implement a system of legal unbundling for the transmission and distribution system operators in both gas
and electricity.

5.12.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 301 E/97

The Commission believes that legal unbundling coupled with measures of functional unbundling, as
to achieve the objective of non-discriminatory network access. The

3.
proposed, can be sufficient
Commission will review the effectiveness of this provision in a regular report.

4.
The Commission has not studied the price developments in conurbations and rural areas. Eurostat
publishes price comparisons for all major cities in the Union. This data is available on the website of
Eurostat1. In its recent report on the implementation of the Electricity and Gas Directives, the Commission
has published price comparisons and developments in the Member States (1).

(1) http://europa.eu.int/comm/energy/en/elec_single_market/index_en.html.

(2002/C 301 E/101)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1168/02

by Ruth Hieronymi (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(17 April 2002)

Subject: Post of head of Commission Representation in Bonn vacant

The post of head of the European Commission Representation in Bonn has been vacant for two and a half
years. In other cases the post of head of representation hass remained vacant for a maximum of three
months.

When will the post of head of the European Commission Representation in Bonn be filled?

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(28 May 2002)

As the Honourable Member has already been informed by the Secretary-General in letter No 30262 of
19 February 2001, the Commission would stress that it is in its interests to maintain an office in Bonn for
two reasons: the continuing presence of certain federal ministries there and the importance of the region
of North Rhine-Westphalia.

At present, the Commission does not have any vacant post which it could allocate to the Bonn regional
office. It had also informed the Honourable Member in the above-mentioned letter that the situation would
be reviewed immediately in the event of an increase in the activities of that office which could not be
handled by the staff working there.

However, the Commission notes that, to date, the workload in the Bonn office has not increased to that
extent and is being handled efficiently by the staff, with the support of the Head of the Commission
Representation to Germany in Berlin, who performs a valuable liaison function with the federal and local
authorities.

The situation will be reviewed regularly.

(2002/C 301 E/102)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1169/02

by Antonios Trakatellis (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Dispersal of hazardous substances in the sea

(24 April 2002)

According to an investigative report in the Greek press, the organisation managing the port of Piraeus is
considering the approval of works to deepen Piraeus harbour. This project involves dredging the seabed of