Draft electricity market proposals aim to empower ‘active consumers’

Leaked European Commission proposals to reform the electricity market reveal an attempt to modernise outdated energy market laws by granting consumers new rights and adjusting trading rules to favour renewable energy.

According to the leaked drafts, member states would be required to guarantee the right of “active consumers” to generate, store, consume and sell electricity in all organised markets without “disproportionately burdensome procedures and charges that are not cost reflective”. The new rules would also support local communities wishing to buy and sell electricity.