Regulators’ Monitoring of Consumer Protection and Retail Markets Andrew Ebrill, CEER Secretary General CEER Customer Conference, Brussels 29 November 2018

Retail Market Functioning Agenda Retail Market Prices Retail Market Functioning Consumer Protection and Empowerment Publications ACER-CEER 2017 Annual Report on Monitoring the Electricity and Natural Gas Markets - published Autumn 2018 CEER Retail Markets Monitoring Report for the Year 2017 - to be published December 2018

Retail Retail Market Prices Retail prices are a mixed story, with wholesale costs a driver Retail mark-ups, subsidies and levies have an impact too Aggregated EU Price in 2017 Elec. HH 204 EUR/MWh INDEX Gas HH 61 EUR/MWh Elec. IND 104 EUR/MWh Gas IND 25 EUR/MWh 31

Breakdown of Retail Electricity Price HH electricity retail price % 34

Breakdown of Retail Gas Price HH gas retail price % 33

Retail Market Functioning Electricity Markets Big variety in national supplier numbers! Improvement: in 20 MS more suppliers in 2017 than 2016 In 13 MS 100% of supplier act on a nationwide level The CEER Retail Report will have, for the first time, an analysis of offers to customers in term of specialised supply types, special billing options, relative variety of offers, etc.

Retail Market Functioning Gas markets often less dynamic than electricity Improvement: in 10 MS more suppliers in 2017 than 2016 In 13 MS 100% of suppliers act on a nationwide level

Retail Market Concentration Electricity Markets In 8 MS, HHI index ≤ 2000 in 2017, 3 more than 2016

Retail Market Concentration Gas Markets In 3 MS, HHI index ≤ 2000 in 2017, one more than 2016

Switching Rates Electricity Markets In 8 MS, external switching rates above 10% Internal switching rate highest in GB (27%) and Sweden (26%)

Switching Rates Gas Markets In 5 MS, external switching rates above 10% Internal switching rate highest in GB (30%).

Price Regulation and Intervention Electricity Gas 14 MSs apply price regulation to households Highest share of HH under regulated prices in BG, PL, RO, HU, MT, CY, LT (ranging from 87% to 100%) 13 MSs apply price regulation to households 100% of HH under regulated prices in 6 MS Successful removal of price regulation in PL, DK, GR. In LT, PT and RO removal of price regulation is in progress. GB introduced regulated prices in form of price cap on domestic prepayment meter charges. The Netherlands imposed maximum tariffs for the first time.

Consumer Protection and Empowerment SOLR energy price comparison to conventional energy prices in EU MSs - 2017 SOLR generally available, but often more expensive Disconnection process gives reasonable time to settle open bills Disconnection rates hardly exceed 1% Pre-payment meters only used in a few MSs as substitutes for disconnections (or otherwise) 38

Consumer Information Information provided on household consumer bills in EU MSs - 2017 Third Package requirements (EED) concerning information on bills extended in all MSs Already a plethora of information elements on national bills Arguably too much information confuses! Source: 2017 Market Monitoring Report on Consumer empowerment based on CEER databases, national indicators 40

Protection of Vulnerable Consumers and Consumer Choice MSs have in place a range of safeguards/protections for vulnerable populations Intermingling with social security system causes confusion between energy/social security legislation and incomparability across MSs Definitions of energy poverty only available in 5 MSs More than 10% of population considered energy poor in some MSs Reliable Comparison Tools still not available everywhere Average switching duration remains at approx. 12 days 3-week limit is generally respected in all MSs Should do better!

Complaints and ADR Average shares of household consumer complaints directly addressed to NRAs for EU MSs - 2017 Suppliers and Distribution System Operators often requested to respond to complaints within 1 month Main share of complaints is about bills, (dis)connections, prices and contracts 43

Smart Metering Smart meter roll reached more than 50% in 9 MSs Electricity smart meter roll out rates in EU MSs - 2017 Smart meter roll reached more than 50% in 9 MSs Maximum time granularity between 15 minutes and 1 hour Roll-out rate is mixed! 41

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