German energy law marks end of energy competition

German energy law marks end of energy competition: new suppliers

London (Platts)--15Apr2005


Germany's association of new energy suppliers, BNE, said Friday the passing of
the country's draft energy law had canceled any chance of gas market
competition. "The development of competition remains the same as before:
German industrial, commercial and household gas customers pay Eur5-bil too
much for their gas," the BNE said. 

"Lobbyists in the gas industry have managed to block entry into the gas market
for another year," said Robert Busch, BNE's managing director. The draft law
denies new suppliers the flexibility to offer customers competitive conditions
and allows established gas suppliers to hold on to their monopoly position,
BNE said.

For the power market too, despite the incentive regulation and federal grid
agency, there are notable failings in the law. The absence of regulation in
the balancing energy markets and the "half-hearted liberalization" of tariff
calculation methods effectively handed the large power companies an additional
income worth hundreds of millions of euros that would only serve to further
burden consumers, BNE said.

This story was originally published in Platts European Power Alert
http://www.europeanpoweralert.platts.com

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