Beware European liberalisation!
Page 1 of 2
At a time when the EU appears to have moved to a point where there will be an agreement to introduce competition in gas and electricity markets down to residential customers, there has been a warning about the need to pay attention to the risks of such moves from Willem Goudriaan, deputy general secretary of the European Federation of Public Service Unions. His warning is that competition may not bring benefits to residential customers in Europe. He fears that jobs could be lost and market power could be concentrated in the hands of a small number of suppliers - presumably he expects them to operate a market to raise prices. His comments were directed to the electricity market but if they apply in that market there would be similar concerns about the gas market. There have also been some concerns in the European Parliament, where a member, Claude Turmes, has called for the need for sufficient checks and balances for market liberalisation. The agreement about utility regulators for all 15 EU countries at Barcelona should be an important factor in ensuring that the concerns expressed by Goudriaan and Turmes should be allayed. Certainly the effect of the independent regulator in the UK has been nothing if not successful.
