ENTSO-E position on the European Commission’s Electrification Action Plan and initial comments on the Proposal for a Regulation on Future Proof Electricity Bills.
ENTSO-E welcomes the European Commission’s Electrification Action Plan and supports its recognition that electrification, grid development and power system operation must advance hand in hand.
ENTSO-E also welcomes the accompanying Commission proposal to future-proof electricity bills. The proposal supports key principles for network charges that are cost-reflective, transparent and non-discriminatory, alongside fair electricity taxation. It also supports the accelerated deployment of smart meters to unlock flexibility and improve grid observability.
Why does electrification matter for Europe?
The European Commission’s Electrification Action Plan confirms that electrification of our economy will be the key catalyst for turning Europe’s competitiveness, energy security and decarbonisation ambitions into reality. Every electric vehicle, heat pump and newly electrified industrial process can contribute to a resilient, affordable and flexible power system. The same applies to growing electricity demand from data centres and electrolysers.
What is needed to deliver electrification?
Delivering Europe’s electrification ambitions requires timely grid development, efficient grid connections, and an enabling regulatory framework. Alongside grid expansion, flexibility resources and storage will help ensure the efficient use of the electricity system.
What does ENTSO-E recommend?
The successful implementation of the Electrification Action Plan will depend on three factors:
- Timely investment in grid infrastructure, supported by adequate financing, faster permitting procedures, and resilient supply chains.
- Unlocking flexibility across electricity generation, consumption, storage and grid use.
- More efficient management of grid connection requests to accelerate access to the electricity system.
- Alignment of electrification ambitions with electricity system development, ensuring that infrastructure, flexibility and storage requirements are assessed alongside future electricity demand.
What is ENTSO-E’s position on electrification targets?
ENTSO-E supports the proposal to establish an ambitious indicative electrification target for 2040. Such a target can provide investors and stakeholders with greater clarity on the direction of travel while supporting Europe’s competitiveness, security and decarbonisation objectives. Any target however needs to be accompanied by the necessary measures to turn ambition into reality.
Why do network charges matter?
Delivering Europe’s electrification ambitions requires a regulatory framework that encourages investment in the electricity grids of tomorrow. Future-proof network charges can help ensure that the infrastructure needed to connect electric vehicles, heat pumps, data centres, and clean industries, is built at the pace and scale required.
Striking a balance between affordability and financing the needed grid investments is key. Simple cost efficiency measures will not suffice. Incentives should support the whole range of policy objectives, including security or decarbonisation.
How can network charges better support electrification?
To realise the proposal’s full potential, ENTSO-E initially recommends four targeted amendments:
- Ensure investor-attractive remuneration frameworks that provide market-based and risk-reflective returns, enabling the investments needed for Europe’s future electricity system.
- Broaden incentives beyond cost-efficiency to reward contributions to security of supply, market integration, resilience, grid stability and cybersecurity, all of which create value for consumers and the wider economy.
- Preserve flexibility and subsidiarity by allowing national regulators to design tariff structures that reflect local system realities while applying common European principles.
- Encourage tailored efficiency measures rather than mandatory one-size-fits-all benchmarking approaches to adequately reflect differences between European transmission systems.
How is ENTSO-E contributing?
ENTSO-E stands ready to contribute to the implementation of the Electrification Action Plan and the future-proofing of electricity bills by providing technical expertise on grid development, flexibility needs, network charges and the integration of storage into the electricity system, drawing on the operational and planning experience of Europe’s transmission system operators.
ENTSO-E’s Position Paper on the European Commission’s Electrification Action Plan is available here.
ENTSO-E’s initial comments on the European Commission Proposal regarding future-proofing electricity bills in the Union here.