From Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
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The aim of this consultation is to gather feedback on the Member State options provisions in the New Electricity Market Design Directive (Directive EU 2024/1711) and to seek views to assist in the possible transposition of these optional provisions into Irish law.
In March 2023 the European Commission presented a proposal to revise the rules of the European Union's electricity market design, arising from the very high electricity prices seen since late 2021. Successive measures had been taken at EU level since prices began to rise in 2021 to offer member states the ability and assistance to protect their electricity consumers from rising costs. In the context of the energy crisis, the European electricity market design revealed a number of shortcomings and unexpected consequences linked to the impact of high and volatile fossil fuel prices on short-term electricity markets, which exposed households and undertakings to significant price spikes and resulting effects on their electricity bills. As a result, over the course of 2023 deliberation between the European Council and Parliament took place to finalise the wording of a legislative package to amend these shortcomings and future proof the European electricity market.
The Directive, which arose out of these negotiations, was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 26 June 2024, coming into legal force two weeks later. The Directive aims to put the consumer at the centre of the clean energy transition and can broadly be split into measures that seek to enhance electricity consumer protection, measures intended to further empower electricity consumers in the market and measures that allow more flexibility to accommodate the increasing share of renewable energy in the grid.
The Directive contains a number of Member State options, provisions where flexibility or discretion is given to Member States when deciding how or whether to implement certain elements of the Directive. It is these Member State options that the Department is consulting on. We intend to incorporate the recommendations arising out of this consultation when considering the transposition of this Directive into Irish law.
The consultation questions are contained in Appendix I of the document and consist of a three-column table. The first column contains the excerpt from the Directive containing the Member State option in question. The second column contains a background information note on that provision, as well as a steering question which stakeholders or interested parties may find helpful in focussing their response towards. The third column is empty, providing a space for stakeholders or interested parties to provide a response or feedback on that Member State option.
The scope of the consultation is the Member State option provisions, however stakeholders are welcome to express their opinion on the Directive and transposition at-large in the box at the bottom of the consultation document.
Consultation on the Electricity Market Design Directive
Submissions should be sent by email to EMDconsultation@decc.gov.ie or by post to:
Retail Energy Policy and Regulation Division
Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
Tom Johnson House
Haddington Road
D04 K7X4
The closing date for submissions is 5.30pm on Friday, 29 November 2024
We are committed to engaging with stakeholders in a clear, open and transparent manner. Any person or organisation can make a submission in relation to this consultation. We will consider all submissions and feedback before we publish the final versions of the revised Energy Poverty Action Plan.
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