EU chief plans overhaul of electricity market as prices skyrocket
“Skyrocketing” energy prices expose the limits of the European Union’s electricity market design, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday, announcing plans for a structural reform.
The market “was developed under completely different circumstances,” von der Leyen said in a speech.
“But we also acknowledge that this is a short-term relief that will not change the structure of the market,” she added, saying power markets were “designed in a way like it was necessary twenty years ago” when the share of renewables was low.
“Today, the market is completely different. It is the renewables that are the most cost-effective and the cheapest ones,” she explained.
Gas prices have surged to record highs since the autumn on the back of tight supplies from Russia and the economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis – a situation now compounded by the Ukraine war.
