Top > Business > 2005 > November > 2005-11-17

EU Demands Energy Market Changes

The European Commission is demanding changes in the European wholesale markets for gas and electricity.

Its investigation started this summer after UK energy companies complained they were being forced to buy wholesale gas at excessively high prices.

Since the start of 2003, the wholesale price of gas has doubled. As a result, households in the UK have seen their gas prices rise by about 40 percent in the same period.

U.K.`s own energy regulator, Ofgem, is investigating the increase and chairman Sir John Mogg wants the Commission to step in and rectify the situation.

"Our consumers and businesses are paying a high price for the lack of competition in most continental energy markets," he says.

Sir Mogg blames the increase on the same competition issues that the European Commission noted in their investigation.

"This is why anti-competitive practices must be stamped out and effective rules of the game introduced and properly policed," he says.