The European Commission presented its proposals on Tuesday, March 14. Germany and its allies have obtained that the institution does not affect the short -term electricity market, France that nuclear is not excluded from the device.
by Virginie Malingre (Brussels, European Office)
Some, like France and Spain, has been demanding in the fall of the electricity market since the fall of 2021, in order to share households and companies with relatively low production costs that nuclear or nuclear power can offer or renewable. Others, at the forefront of which Germany, more dependent on gas, advocated the greatest caution, arguing that it is dangerous to touch well established market mechanisms and that priority must remain the security of the supply , before the question of prices.
For a long time, the European Commission preferred to do nothing, choosing, in fact, the conservative camp. But the outbreak of energy prices and the return of inflation on the old continent, with the risks of related social offspring, made the cursor move. Especially since Europeans were also looking for an answer to American Reduction Act inflation, which provides $ 369 billion (344 billion euros) of subsidies for green industry, including a large envelope for energy.
The proposal for reforming the electricity market that the community executive finally presented, Tuesday, March 14, is far from being the big bang that Paris and Madrid have long claimed. But it gives them significant pledges since, beyond renewable, it encourages investments in nuclear, including in already existing power stations, and draws an institutional framework in which member states can use, in the event of a crisis, to Prices regulated for households and SMEs.
Set the prices of decarbonized energy
In the short term, it is not certain that this reform project will make it possible to lower, in a substantial manner, electricity bills. The commission’s proposal perpetuates the way in which the prices of the megawatt hour are set day by day and which, as we have seen, has not protected consumers against rampant inflation. On the other hand, she avoided them the supply breaks when Russia has decided to cut the gas tap to Europeans.
In this context, in their vast majority, the twenty-seven wanted to keep the operation of “short term” of the market which, strongly interconnected, makes it possible to respond to peaks of demand on the continent’s scale without breaking of ‘supply. Today, it is the last center called to respond to consumption, most often a gas power plant, which determines the price of electricity. From this point of view, Emmanuel Macron, who had called for “decoupling”, arguing that the French should be able to take advantage of the relatively low cost of nuclear produced in their country, did not win. Data-format = “inread” aria-hidden = “true”>
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