As one of Europe's leading energy traders, we believe that well-designed, well-functioning markets will play a vital role in delivering secure energy supplies at fair prices, while helping to encourage the investment needed to build tomorrow’s climate-friendly energy infrastructure. We're actively supporting a number of initiatives to ensure markets are more competitive, transparent and connected, either directly via consultation or indirectly via trade bodies like the European Federation of Energy Traders (EFET).

So why do we need to keep working hard toward a single European energy market?

Ultimately, a larger market area with central trading hubs and a level playing field offers advantages for all of Europe’s key energy stakeholders:  customers, investors, and the environment.

For industrial and residential customers: in more competitive, better connected markets, energy assets like power stations are operated more efficiently to meet demand. This efficiency is reflected in the wholesale price, which forms a large chunk of energy bills for end customers.

For investors: a pan-European energy market with standardised rules provides a more secure foundation for future investment. The greater the liquidity and the more participants a market has, the more reliable its price signals are. Investors need to have confidence in the markets and the price signals they set before they make the enormous long-term investments needed in the coming decades to transform our energy system.

For the environment: a pan-European market can draw on a much wider generation mix - for example, hydroelectricity from Scandinavia and the Alpine countries, offshore wind from the UK, and a range of cleaner and more efficient fossil-fuel and nuclear power stations from across the Continent. A European marketplace will increase competition on the generation side and give consumers access to the full range of Europe’s energy resources. It’s also easier to integrate renewables into this broad mix than into isolated markets. For example, flexible and efficient conventional and hydro power stations can produce power when renewables output drops on windless, cloudy days. The EU ETS, in conjunction with uniform EU-wide rules for the support of renewables, also creates a clear framework for investment in low-carbon generation.