European energy markets are currently going through a series of fundamental changes. Frontier Economics, working for a range of clients in different European countries, is directly helping to shape public debate on the issues raised by these reforms. In recent months, three articles, authored by Frontier staff, have been published in the German trade press, and are available to download.

• In the article “Future of the gas sector – energy carrier rather than energy source” (published in Energiewirtschaftliche Tagesfragen, March 2017), Dr. David Bothe, Dr. Matthias Janssen and Dr. Christoph Riechmann discuss how smarter use of existing gas infrastructure could decrease the overall economic cost associated with the energy transition, and the political and regulatory shifts that would be necessary to achieve these changes in the ‘gas economy’.
• In “The dynamisiation of the EEG levy – a first step towards sector coupling” (published in Energiewirtschaftliche Tagesfragen, January/February 2017), Dr. Jens Perner and Michael Zähringer discuss how taxes and levies on energy sources form a substantial part of electricity retail prices, and why this serves as a barrier to linking sectors and the efficient use of customer generation sites. The articles highlights how fundamental reforms of these levies are needed in order to efficiently link sectors within the electricity market.
• In their article “What to expect from Incentive Regulation 2.1?” (published in Wirtschaftsdienst, January 2017), Dr. Wolfgang Elsenbast, Dr. Jens Perner and Dr. Aria Rodgarkia-Dara discuss the recent passage of reforms to price-cap regulation in Germany, and how it defines revenue opportunities of electricity and gas suppliers by determining the general economic framework for companies. The article comments on the new regulatory framework for electricity and gas operators, and highlights why the reform has not led to a more radical modernisation of the regulation processes.

Frontier (Europe) regularly advises public and private sector clients on issues relating to energy efficiency and market design.

For more information, please contact Miriam Rau on m.raut@frontier-economics.com, or call +44 (0)20 7031 7000.