Why market monitoring? First, the Third Energy Package tasks the Agency with monitoring the internal markets for electricity and gas. To this purpose, the Agency shall prepare an annual market monitoring report in close cooperation with the European Commission, National Regulatory Authorities, and other relevant organisations. The legal basis for the Agency’s market monitoring duties is in Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No. 713/2009.
Moreover, the objective of the Agency’s market monitoring activities is to explain how energy markets can perform more efficiently, thus making energy more affordable to the benefit of European energy consumers. For example, if barriers to market integration of the internal electricity and gas markets are removed, then the level of competition should improve. As a consequence, the Agency’s market monitoring report will aim to compare retail market competition in different markets across the EU, with a view to identifying instances of best practice which improve market performance.
The Agency’s report will assess the internal markets for energy and, in particular, concentrate on retail prices (including compliance with consumer rights as mentioned in the Third Package), network access (including grid access for renewable energy sources), and on any barriers to the Internal Energy Market (IEM).
