EC moves to open energy markets
The EC is about to launch a spate of legal actions to open Europe’s major energy markets to greater competition, according to today’s Financial Times.
“The action will be particularly welcome in Britain where gas prices rose sharply this winter yet the main gas pipeline linking the UK to the continent remained below capacity as imports were held back by supply companies.
The UK is investigating the reasons for this and why, in a supposedly fully-functioning EU single energy market, suppliers did not send more gas to the UK when prices were soaring there.
The Commission’s aim is fully to open the EU’s energy markets by July 2007, but meeting that timetable is proving challenging.”
If successful, these moves could lower gas prices and thereby have an impact on prices for carbon emissions allowances, both directly, through greater energy usage, and indirectly, through substitution of gas-fueled for coal-fueled electricity generation.