London, 16 February 2011

Platts: The European energy industry must make the single power and gas market work by the 2014 deadline set by the European Commission or face living with isolated national markets once more, Philip Lowe, head of the EC's energy department told the gas markets summit in London Tuesday.

"It is time to either make the single market work or give up on European markets and return to national markets," he said. "There is reason to consider the return to national markets because of the levels of interference that are still needed from national regulators."

Lowe said there were four potential obstacles to completing the single market: lack of implementation and enforcement; infrastructure bottlenecks; market design that remains national; and consumers who are not convinced that they benefit from liberalization.

"Regulators, national governments and transmission system operators have got to combine to make the single market work," he said.

Lowe was speaking about the commitment by EU leaders at the energy summit in Brussels on February 4 to complete the bloc's single gas and power market by 2014.

"We are serious about this deadline," he said, but conceded that the EC would not be adamant on deadlines as long as member countries showed they were developing competition within their energy markets. "All member states must have a competitive dynamic," he said.
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