Brussels calls for end to energy market distortion

In it’s autumn balance sheet, the European Commissioner for Energy gave member states a dressing down and pressed them to make the internal energy market a reality. According to him, lower market prices would benefit European consumers, thanks to perfect competition and price deregulation. Günther Oettinger EU Commissioner for Energy “The state doesn’t set prices for Audi and Renault and Mercedes and Peugeot, so in the next few years we are going to look at the reduction of the regulated prices and eventually the abolition of regulated prices for electricity and gas”. He said that savings made at any one time is still paid for by the consumer down the line. Günther Oettinger EU Commissioner for Energy “If we have fixed prices, low prices, you have full cost anyway, so consumers pays the rest as tax payers or by debt in their public budgets.” The commissioner is an advocate of the total removal of state subsidies for green energy, a move that’s earned him criticism and stoked fears among environmentalists.