BEUC NEWS - 05.11.2018

As the electricity market undergoes huge changes in preparing for a future with electric cars, price-responsive electricity use or smart technologies, there are growing questions about who should be paying how much for the distribution of electricity. For example, should people who consume less electricity also pay less when it comes to the distribution costs of electricity? How much should houses with solar panels pay, given that they consume less energy from the grid but will upload electricity generated on their premises? And what should regulators consider when they design future network tariffs?

To look at these questions, BEUC commissioned a report from the UK’s Centre for Competition Policy at the University of East Anglia to analyse what fairness would mean for different groups of household consumers. The report analyses the issue within broad principles set out by the European Commission and currently being discussed in the legislative package ‘Clean Energy for All Europeans’. One of the report’s conclusions is that harmonising network tariffs at European level does not make sense and there is no one-size-fits-all given the very different nature of electricity markets at national level.

For the full report, click HERE.