engleski

The genesis of EU electricity market opening: Liberalization effects and obstacles

The paper focuses the process of electricity market liberalization and it’s functioning in the EU. The European electricity market is in the middle of a transformation from monopolistic state-owned production and distribution to privatized markets, with various competing firms. The basic objective of the electricity market liberalization process has been the optimization of economic performance and the increase in the electricity sector’s efficiency, primarily for the purpose of enhancing the competitiveness of the EU economy. The speed of the liberalization differs widely across European countries and provides dissimilar results in each country separately. This result reflects the electricity price diversity and production efficiency, which leverage to lack of competitiveness. The research is based on the thesis that liberalization of EU electricity market succeeds in achieving some of the basic goals defined by EU Electricity Directives. Positive shifts have been achieved in raising the level of the quality of services, increasing the efficiency of the sector by reducing the need for the construction and maintenance of reserve capacities, and in the formal market opening. On the other hand, the realization of particular reform objectives does not result with success. The purpose of uniform market prices has not been achieved because there are still large variations in the electricity prices among EU countries, especially between old and new EU members. It seems that the European internal electricity market is neither unified nor uniform, and there is no real convergence towards a single model. This article provides the research and analysis of the extent to which these liberalization goals for the electricity market have been achieved and are achievable, and how successful has been the shift from a monopolistic organizational structure to a competitive market structure.

EU electricity market, market opening, liberalisation, obstacles and effects

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