On the one hand, the electricity market, on the other, the gas market. It was from the mini plenary held in Brussels that the European Parliament launched two important reforms for the future structure of the European Union’s energy market. In both cases – both for the reform of the electricity market and for the decarbonisation package for the gas market – these were political agreements already reached with the Member States to be validated.
From public support for the production of energy from renewables and nuclear power to the power to declare a price crisis in the Council. The electricity market reform consists of a regulation – adopted with 433 votes in favour, 140 against and 15 abstentions – and a directive – adopted with 473 votes in favour, 80 against and 27 abstentions. Proposed by the European Commission in March 2023 at the height of the energy price crisis, the electricity market reform aims to make energy bills more independent from short-term market prices and protect consumers from extreme price volatility. In the new structure of the electricity market, consumers will be able to choose whether to stipulate fixed-price energy contracts (with a minimum duration of one year) or flexible-price contracts and unilateral price increases in fixed-term contracts will be prohibited. A ban on power cuts will be introduced for people affected by energy poverty.
And the member states in the Council will declare that the European Union is facing a potential crisis in gas and electricity prices, on the basis of a proposal from the Commission: in the event of a crisis, energy prices can be regulated up to 70% of electricity consumption for small and medium-sized businesses and up to 80% for households. Through contracts ad hocso-called two-way systems – when producers are paid a fixed “strike price” for their electricity, regardless of the price in short-term energy markets – states will be able to promote investments in new renewable electricity plants (wind, solar , hydroelectric without reservoir, geothermal) and nuclear. Contracts for difference, however, can only be used for existing plants when they are subject to repowering, life extension or capacity expansion (and this also applies to nuclear power plants).
On the gas market front, the European Chamber gave the green light to the package to decarbonise existing networks and facilitate the access of hydrogen to the market and renewable gases, consisting of a directive (approved with 425 votes in favour, 64 against and 100 abstentions) and a regulation (dismissed with 447 votes in favour, 90 against and 54 abstentions). Through the new rules, the EU will make permanent the joint gas purchasing mechanism, introduced during the energy crisis, but demand aggregation will remain on a voluntary basis. Among other things, the package aims to create a new market model for hydrogen in Europe, with a set of rules to apply before and after 2033 regarding access to infrastructure and the creation of a new independent European entity which will bring together hydrogen network operators, Ennoh, alongside the other two existing facilities for gas (Entso-G) and electricity (Entso-E). According to the agreement reached between EU co-legislators in early December, the new entity for planning European hydrogen networks will be created in 2024, but will not become fully operational until January 2027.
