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Electricity and gas: You choose!

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Subido el 10 de agosto de 2007 por EducaMadrid

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Already effecive in nine Member States, the liberalisation of gas and electricity markets comes into effect throughout the European Union from July 1, 2007. Consumers of electricity and gas across the whole EU now have the right to freely choose their supplier. Competitive prices, a quality service and consumers’ rights protection should be the benefits of this liberalisation, started more than 10 years ago by the European Commission. The liberalisation of the gas and electricity markets should also reinforce the interconnections between the Member States and guarantee supplies for all EU consumers. The video will show how consumers in the Belgian Walloon region have reacted to the recent opening of competition since January 2007. It will also show British consumers, and how they choose their supplier nowadays in a market that opened several years ago.

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From July 1st, 2007, these elements of everyday life could cost a little less, become more 00:00:00
ecological and not become disconnected. The liberalization of gas and electricity markets 00:00:17
is already a reality for consumers in nine member states. From July 1st, 2007, it comes 00:00:23
into effect throughout the European Union. But what will the liberalization of the gas 00:00:30
and electricity markets mean in practical terms? To fully understand the mechanism, 00:00:35
you first need to take a look at the entire chain, consisting of the following. Production, 00:00:41
generated on a national basis or imported from neighboring countries. Transport, to 00:00:45
feed electricity and gas into the distribution network, and energy suppliers, whose role 00:00:50
it is to take care of commercial aspects and the billing of customers. Before liberalization, 00:00:55
this entire chain was more or less a monopoly, carried out by one and the same body. But 00:01:02
in the future, following a European Commission initiative which began the complex process 00:01:09
of opening up the markets a decade ago, production and supply will have to be completely independent 00:01:13
of transport and distribution. From now on, there should be free competition between suppliers. 00:01:18
So what are the benefits of the opening up of gas and electricity markets? First of all, 00:01:24
competitive prices. The only way to get lower prices is to encourage competition. But encouraged 00:01:29
competition can be done only by customer, when customer is able and has a possibility 00:01:36
to switch suppliers. Because only in this way suppliers have incentives to provide the 00:01:44
best service, but also to come with a price. The most significant effect of liberalization, 00:01:50
the emergence of a market price. In fact, over the past few years, electricity prices 00:01:57
have remained reasonably stable, despite a marked increase in the cost of primary fuels. 00:02:03
The possibility of choosing a supplier is a right and not an obligation for the consumer. 00:02:09
But to be able to use this choice, he or she must first be in possession of all the information. 00:02:14
In Britain, for example, where there's been liberalization for several years now, it's 00:02:20
clear how important independent organizations such as Energy Watch are. 00:02:24
For the market to work, of course, consumers have to be informed. Where consumers aren't 00:02:30
informed, markets fail. And Energy Watch has recognized that. So it has lots of ways 00:02:35
in which it provides information to consumers. First, on our own website, we publish the 00:02:42
tariffs and the quality of service and complaints information about all the suppliers. 00:02:49
For this young London couple, the website of the independent organization Energy Watch 00:02:56
is an invaluable tool in their household. At the click of a mouse, by simply introducing 00:03:00
a postcode and an estimate of yearly consumption, a comparative chart immediately shows the 00:03:06
prices offered by the various suppliers. 00:03:10
With websites like Energy Watch, it does mean that we can just very easily compare a lot 00:03:16
of different energy providers, because one of the problems is as soon as you have a number 00:03:21
of different providers, it's difficult to make a decision about which is the cheapest 00:03:25
one or which is the most green. 00:03:29
The goal of liberalization is to guarantee competitive prices, but also to strengthen 00:03:33
the European network, to optimize the connections between the various member states, and to 00:03:37
be able to guarantee supply for all the consumers in the Union. 00:03:42
It's very good, a lot of benefits for the creation of European grid, and in particular 00:03:47
in the situation where we are fighting climate change and where we are trying to diversify 00:03:52
our supplies to avoid situation having no gas or no oil. 00:03:57
This means it's important to have careful monitoring of the way the markets operate 00:04:05
in all the member states for both electricity and gas, and also to guarantee genuine competition 00:04:08
between the various suppliers, a role played by national energy regulatory authorities, 00:04:14
the competition authorities, and the European Commission. 00:04:19
The European regulators of electricity and natural gas are national public authorities. 00:04:22
They are independent, i.e. independent of the actors of the sector, of the suppliers, 00:04:27
of the network managers, and their main role is to open the market, to ensure effective 00:04:32
competition on these markets. 00:04:38
In certain countries, there's been a progressive opening of the markets. Belgium, which is 00:04:41
divided into three regions, or Flanders, its northern part, liberalised in 2003. In 00:04:46
the capital, Brussels, and in Wallonia, there's only been open competition since January 2007. 00:04:52
So how are things going for the customers in Wallonia? 00:04:57
But in order to choose their supplier, customers have a huge amount of information to deal with. 00:05:17
So what tools are available to help them? 00:05:22
For this retired couple in the Liège region, it's important to make the right choice of 00:05:46
supplier. To shed some light on the situation, they can turn to consumer magazines, documentation 00:06:13
from the different players on the market, and comparison charts available on the Internet. 00:06:18
Even so, some scepticism remains. 00:06:43
With these sorts of questions, the different suppliers are forced to improve their customer 00:06:57
communication. 00:07:01
The European Regulators Group for Electricity and Gas, ERGEG, has published a brochure describing 00:07:03
the practices to improve information across the union. 00:07:09
Starting on July 1, 2007, D-Day, the European Commission, together with the Regulators Group, 00:07:16
is launching a big information campaign in the newly liberalised member states. 00:07:21
But it's vital that customers also do their part and play an active role in informing 00:07:26
themselves. 00:07:30
I'm very much attached to this responsible consumer behaviour. And the first step to 00:07:33
be responsible is to know. 00:07:38
But is there any risk in changing supplier? The answer is a clear no, because liberalisation 00:07:42
doesn't mean deregulation. In fact, quite the opposite. 00:07:47
But to strengthen the focus that consumer is the most important issue, not the energy 00:07:50
providers, we are elaborating an energy consumer charter that will describe all the rights 00:07:57
that consumers can exercise. 00:08:04
Clear information, simplified forms and administration for changing suppliers, better protection 00:08:07
for vulnerable citizens, and more protection against unfair commercial practices from suppliers. 00:08:12
These are rights which are already guaranteed and will be set out in a European Charter 00:08:18
of Energy Consumers' Rights. 00:08:22
The charter is very important because it will put in a nutshell what we are targeting for 00:08:27
having empowered and better informed consumers. 00:08:35
Information which will allow customers to make an enlightened choice in the future. 00:08:39
By the very fact that the consumers have a choice, I think that that means all the providers 00:08:44
are forced to keep quite competitive. 00:08:52
So, in real terms, my gas bill and electricity bill have gone down, I don't know, by maybe 00:08:57
50 or 60 pounds per year. 00:09:03
If July 1st 2007 is the key date for the liberalisation of the gas and electricity markets, the process 00:09:11
doesn't simply end there. 00:09:16
To guarantee free choice and to respect the rights of consumers, the European Commission 00:09:19
will oversee the opening of the markets and make sure that competition between suppliers 00:09:23
is effective throughout the whole of the Union. 00:09:27
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Idioma/s:
en
Niveles educativos:
▼ Mostrar / ocultar niveles
      • Nivel Intermedio
Autor/es:
The European Union
Subido por:
EducaMadrid
Licencia:
Reconocimiento - No comercial - Sin obra derivada
Visualizaciones:
3278
Fecha:
10 de agosto de 2007 - 10:37
Visibilidad:
Público
Enlace Relacionado:
European Commission
Duración:
09′ 41″
Relación de aspecto:
4:3 Hasta 2009 fue el estándar utilizado en la televisión PAL; muchas pantallas de ordenador y televisores usan este estándar, erróneamente llamado cuadrado, cuando en la realidad es rectangular o wide.
Resolución:
448x336 píxeles
Tamaño:
48.96 MBytes

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