18 September 2007
A UK energy regulator official has said that the presence of an independent regulator in Europe is crucial in achieving competition in the European Union's electricity and gas markets.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Chairman of Ofgem, Sir John Mogg, stated that having an independent energy regulator in the EU was "key" to the opening up of European energy markets to competition.
Sir John's comments come before the unveiling of legislation designed to open up the sector further expected to be announced this week by EU Energy Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs.
Mr Piebalgs may suggest 'ownership unbundling', the separation of pipes and wires of energy companies including EDF and E.ON, should happen in order to promote investment and competition. He is also expected to state that a pan-European regulator be appointed to build links between electricity companies in different countries.
Many EU officials currently believe that energy competition in the EU is jeopardised by energy firms that own pipelines and power networks as well as being the distributors of gas and electricity.
Earlier this week it was revealed that Nick Winser, National Grid's Executive Director for transmission wrote to the European commission to ask them to press ahead with the unbundling of pipes and wires carrying gas and electricity in the EU.
© 2008 Adfero Ltd
Content for the uSwitch.com market news service is provided by a third party, Adfero Ltd. Whilst uSwitch.com makes reasonable efforts to check the reliability of this content, uSwitch.com does not guarantee the accuracy thereof or endorse the views or opinions given by Adfero Ltd, unless expressly stated otherwise.