The process of liberalization of the energy market
The decree of liberalization of the electricity market (the so-called "Bersani Decree"), dated February 19, 1999, marked the beginning of the opening of the Italian electricity market in application of the European Directive EC 96/92. With the full liberalization of the electricity market for all customers with a VAT has opened a new phase for the Italian electricity consumers.
A liberalized market is based on three conditions:
a free application to choose,
competitive bid,
a network access granted to a level playing field between operators.
Today, companies, despite various difficulties, they can identify the existing alternative suppliers and negotiate with them a number of significant commercial elements (price, delivery conditions, etc..), In order to achieve real savings, extremely useful as the framework expected growth in energy costs.
In Italy, the trading sector - business of buying and selling wholesale - electricity has a size still limited, due to the strong concentration of supply sources (Enel Production, Import, CIP 6), resulting in a leveling of prices purchase of electricity. The development of generation capacity over the past decade, in fact, has been insufficient, in the high rate of growth in demand. As a result, the peak demand were very close to the maximum available generation capacity and, as the record of the summer of 2003 showed us, sometimes even higher.
The process of liberalization of the energy market
The process of liberalization of the Italian electricity market was started with the enactment of Legislative Decree no. 79/99, "Bersani Decree", which incorporated into our law the EU Directive 96/92/EC. The entry into force of this decree has revolutionized the structure of the sector, which until then had been characterized by a single large national operator, ENEL, and some companies of local dimension. Under the new system the production, import, sale and purchase of electricity are free activities and this creates the gradual opening to competition of the electricity markets.
Previously, in Italy there existed a market model of monopolistic. In fact, since 1962 (the year of birth of the National Electric Energy) all activities related to the production, transportation and sale of electricity were legally reserved only for Enel. There were also some other persons authorized to produce electricity, but they could only sell to Enel, do not enter it directly in the market.
In 1992, Enel has become a joint stock company, the first step towards privatization. Were attributed to the new company by way of concession activities that were previously reserved for the Ente Nazionale law.
In 1999, the Bersani Decree provides, inter alia, the establishment of an organized electricity market (the Power Exchange) in which we can negotiate the purchase and sale of electricity. Economic management and the organization of the electricity market has been entrusted to the Electricity Market Operator (GME), with the task of ensuring compliance with the principles of neutrality, transparency, objectivity and competition between producers, and to ensure, also, the management of an adequate availability of power reserve.
In Italy in 2002, the overall demand for electricity on the grid has reached 310.4 billion kWh, with an incidence of eligible customers for 125 TWh. The free market, in 2001, was characterized by consumption of approximately 115.5 TWh, of which 20.5 TWh from self. For what concerns the forecast of development of the electricity market, is expected for the next few years, an average growth of 2.5-3% per annum, and this should bring around 2010 to a total consumption of about 390 TWh. Italy is characterized by a heavy reliance on imports of electricity: 15% of the total requirement, amounting to about 48 billion kWh, is in fact imported from neighboring countries interconnected.
03/05/2009
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Translated via software
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Source:
Italian version of ReteArchitetti.it