ACER monitors and reports annually on the EU (internal) markets of electricity and natural gas (our so-called Market Monitoring Reports), including on Europe’s energy retail markets and consumer protection measures.
October: Energy retail and consumer protection.
ACER monitors and reports annually on the EU (internal) markets of electricity and natural gas (our so-called Market Monitoring Reports).
During 2024, ACER publishes a series of overviews on specific aspects of the performance of the EU electricity markets in 2023, with a focus on cross-border issues:
PREVIOUS EDITIONS
| Report | Corrigenda |
| Underlying dataset | |
The EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) and the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) monitor energy markets in the EU.
ACER’s market monitoring focuses on:
Data underpinning ACER’s analyses is available on the Market Monitoring Data page.
Read more about the implementation and effect monitoring strategy of ACER.
If you wish to stay updated on ACER’s latest market monitoring activities, subscribe to ACER's latest news.
The EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) and the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) monitor energy markets in the EU.
ACER’s market monitoring focuses on:
Data underpinning ACER’s analyses is available on the Market Monitoring Data page.
Read more about the implementation and effect monitoring strategy of ACER.
If you wish to stay updated on ACER’s latest market monitoring activities, subscribe to ACER's latest news.
ACER monitors and reports annually on the EU (internal) markets of electricity and natural gas (our so-called Market Monitoring Reports).
During 2024, ACER publishes a series of overviews on specific aspects of the performance of the EU electricity markets in 2023, with a focus on cross-border issues:
PREVIOUS EDITIONS
| Report | Corrigenda |
| Underlying dataset | |
ACER monitors and reports annually on the EU (internal) markets of electricity and natural gas (our so-called Market Monitoring Reports).
During 2024, ACER publishes a series of overviews of the functioning of gas markets and the progress towards an internal EU gas market:
ACER monitors and reports annually on the EU (internal) markets of electricity and natural gas (our so-called Market Monitoring Reports), including on Europe’s energy retail markets and consumer protection measures.
October: Energy retail and consumer protection.
The Decarbonised Gases looks at the current state of decarbonisation of the EU gas systems and their mid-term trajectoryand their trajectory frombetween now until and 2050. In particular, it analyses:
The Consumer Protection and Empowerment volume looked at the performance of European energy markets from the final household consumer perspective. The volume explored the impact of the Third Energy Package provisions into national legislation. It analysed in depth public service obligations, the protection of vulnerable consumers, consumer information rights, smart meters and consumer complaints. The report also elaborated on the existence and effectiveness of consumer protection mechanisms and included a set of recommendations on how to further enhance consumer rights.
From 2019 edition this publication is titled Energy Retail and Consumer Protection Volume and integrate the previously separate Consumer Protection and Electricity and Gas Retail Markets Volumes.
ACER is highly committed in processing personal data in a lawful way.
The Agency processes personal data collected according to the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data.
ACER only processes personal data for the performance of tasks carried out in the public interest in accordance with European Union law or whilst legitimately exercising the official authority vested to the Agency. Furthermore, the processing of personal data is lawful as a part of a legal or contractual obligation or when the data subject concerned has given his or her unambiguous consent.
The Agency will not process personal data for marketing or commercial purposes.
The Agency's supervisory authority, in terms of processing personal data, is the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS). The EDPS is responsible for the monitoring of European Union institutions, agencies and bodies and their compliance with data protection rules, ensuring that the rights to privacy and data protection are respected.
The Agency appointed a Data Protection Officer (DPO) to ensure, in an independent manner, the internal application of data protection requirements.
The DPO's main functions are to:
ACER has the legal obligation to keep a register of all personal data processing operations which have been notified to the Data Protection Officer (DPO). The register aims at ensuring transparency to the public and it is accessible to any interested person. The register contains the following information:
ACER processes any individual's personal data in compliance with the Regulation (EC) No 2018/1725.
The data privacy notices (DPN) describe the Agency's policies and practices regarding collection and use of personal data on different operations:
ACER (the EU Agency) and the national (energy) regulatory authorities protect energy markets from abuse, building trust that energy markets work well for businesses and citizens. It is important that wholesale energy markets function well and that prices are determined in a fair way.
The Regulation on Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency (REMIT) came into force in 2011 to support open and fair competition in the European wholesale energy markets.
The revised REMIT (which takes effect from 7 May 2024) introduces new measures to better protect the EU citizens and businesses from energy market abuse. How?
See the ACER Open letter which addresses questions from stakeholders to help them comply with their reporting obligations under ‘Revised REMIT’.
Multiple actors cooperate and contribute in ensuring and delivering the transparency and integrity of wholesale energy market under REMIT. These include ACER, national regulatory authorities (NRAs), persons professionally arranging transactions, market participants, or any person observing potential market abuse.
All these actors can notify a potential REMIT breach observed either in the analysis of REMIT data, continuous market monitoring, or in their daily practice.
Anyone can notify suspicious behaviour under REMIT through the Notification Platform.
ACER is legally mandated to collect all relevant trading data in wholesale energy markets, to surveil the European wholesale energy markets, and to coordinate the follow-up of any possible REMIT breach to ensure consistency at European level.
High prices and high volatility on the wholesale energy markets has led ACER and National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) to reinforce their scrutiny of the behaviour of market participants, including non-EU companies, on the wholesale energy markets to:
In September 2022, ACER and 3 NRAs established a cross-border investigatory group.
Its aim is to coordinate and strengthen the efforts on fact-finding and evidence gathering.
The investigatory group will be closed when sufficient evidence is gathered to pursue a case or if NRAs conclude on the absence of a REMIT breach.
ACER supports and actively contributes to the decarbonisation of the European gas sector. By ensuring efficient decarbonisation and competition measures, costs can be limited and consumers can benefit from lower prices. This is possible thanks to the work of national regulators, the European Commission, ACER and stakeholders who have been cooperating for more than ten years to integrate and create a pan European gas market, comprising also the Energy Community Contracting Parties.
Building upon the sustained efforts of National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) and the continuous support of all stakeholders, ACER's Gas Department is working towards meeting all the challenges associated with creating a well-functioning, competitive, integrated, secure and sustainable European gas market, delivering tangible benefits to the European consumers. Work still to be done includes aligning national market and network operation rules for gas as well as making cross-border investment in energy infrastructure easier.
To achieve these goals, ACER Gas Department has organised its activities in three teams:
Network Codes
Market Monitoring
Infrastructure
Network Codes
The Network Codes (NCs) are the fundamental rules regulating the efficient transmission of gas across Europe. They turn regulatory policies for cross-border and market integration issues into operational rules. ACER is responsible for drafting the initial framework guidelines that guide the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG) and the European Commission in drafting and approving the Codes. The team is also responsible for issuing decisions, recommendations, opinions and NC implementation reports.
The Joint Functionality Process for Gas Network Codes was jointly set up by ACER and ENTSOG in 2016. The platform allows market parties to notify operational issues related to the gas Network Codes and their implementation.
The gas infrastructure team deals with various aspects of the development and the efficient, safe and secure operation of the gas industry infrastructure: pipelines, compressor stations, liquefied natural gas terminals and underground gas storage. ACER contributes to assessing how gas infrastructure developments may influence market integrity, competition, security of gas supply and sustainability. To do so, ACER works closely with NRAs, ENTSOG, project promoters, and the European Commission. The team also often liaises with colleagues from the Energy Community and other European entities.
The Agency closely monitors and assesses the development of the gas infrastructure in Europe through several activities, including the development and the implementation of the EU-wide 10-year network development plans (TYNDPs), gas regional investment plans (GRIPs), national infrastructure development plans (NDPs), and the selection of projects of common interest (PCIs). In all these domains, ACER provides Opinions, Recommendations or reports to advise and inform relevant stakeholders.
Accurate monitoring is crucial to track the progress towards meeting the challenges of creating a well-functioning, competitive, integrated, secure, and sustainable European internal energy market. The Gas Market Monitoring team analyses the trends of:
EU gas wholesale markets and the impact of Network Codes on its functioning,
Retail energy markets, focusing particularly on price-related issues, as well as the status of consumer rights, empowerment and protection in the European energy market.
As a result of this intensive analysis, ACER produces an annual Market Monitoring Report (MMR). The report is considered by stakeholders as a reference to appraise the status of the European energy markets and to develop a sound energy policy. The MMR also identifies barriers to the completion of the internal gas market and recommends measures to overcome them.
The European energy sector is engaged into a profound energy transition, whose overall success highly depends on the efficiency and integration of the European electricity markets.
Since the Directive on common rules for the internal market in electricity (1996), which marked the beginning of the market integration process at the European level, significant progress has been made towards establishing an efficient Internal Electricity Market. The successive legislative packages (and more recently the Clean Energy Package) contributed to further strengthening the foundations of the Internal Electricity Market.
Despite this progress, there are still numerous obstacles to overcome before achieving a truly integrated efficient market.
Among these: the full implementation of the Network Codes and Guidelines developed since 2011 (constituting the backbone of the Internal Electricity Market) and the efficient and secure integration of renewables' intermittent generation.
Building upon the sustained efforts of National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) and the continuous support of all stakeholders, ACER's Electricity Department is committed to meeting all these challenges.
To better support the market integration process, the Department has organised its activities into five teams:
The Market Codes team is responsible for developing, implementing and monitoring the European market rules.
The Grid Connection and System Operations team develops, implements and monitors the grid connection and system operation rules harmonised at European level.
The Market Monitoring team is in charge of identifying the barriers to the well-functioning of the European electricity markets.
The Infrastructure team ensures an efficient and transparent network development.
The Adequacy team is responsible for the development, implementation and monitoring of sound and transparent methodologies identifying resource gaps in Europe.
We are seeking proactive and motivated individuals to join our Agency as Administrative Agents, providing comprehensive administrative support across multiple departments. Administrative Agents will play a key role in assisting the Heads of Departments with their daily activities, managing their agendas, organising meetings, coordinating departmental tasks, and ensuring effective communication with both internal and external stakeholders.
Deadline to submit applications: 30 April 2025, 14:00 CET
Reference: ACER/2025/04
Published: 2 April 2025
We are looking for a Policy Officer - Hydrogen Technology and Markets, who will play a crucial role in shaping the hydrogen regulatory framework, monitoring market developments, and contributing to the EU’s decarbonisation efforts.
We are looking for a professional with at least 5 years of experience in the hydrogen industry, strong technical knowledge of hydrogen technology, projects, and market dynamics, experience in stakeholder management and regulatory frameworks and background in engineering, economics, or a related field.
Deadline to submit applications: extended to 25 April 2025, 14:00 CET
Reference: ACER/2025/02
Published: 19 February 2025
The Agency may offer positions to experienced and highly-motivated Seconded National Experts (SNE), who will work together with the Agency’s staff.
No deadline for applications
Reference: ACER/SNE/2023/OC
Are you a strongly motivated, highly qualified and competent young professional? If your answer is yes, you landed in the right place.
ACER traineeship programme aims to attract university graduates who are interested in developing professionally by embarking on an exciting learning opportunity.
No deadline to apply.
You can be contacted at any time to join us for March or September semester.
Reference: ACER/TRAINEE/2024/OC
The ACER graduate programme aims to attract graduates with a completed Master Degree and PhD students who are interested in developing professionally by embarking on an exciting learning opportunity in EU energy regulation in its offices in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
The aim is to create a pool of fresh talent capable of contributing to core ACER tasks and policy and creating a bridge with the latest academic insights.
No deadline to apply.
Reference: ACER/GRADUATE/2023/OC
The European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) was established in March 2011 (Third Energy Package legislation) to foster cooperation among the EU’s energy National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) and help ensure that a single European market for electricity, and similarly natural gas, functions well. ACER's headquarters are in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
ACER is one of the EU decentralised agencies. Distinct from the EU institutions, agencies are set up as separate legal entities to perform specific technical and scientific tasks that help the EU institutions and Member States to implement policies and take decisions. EU agencies support the cooperation between the EU and national governments by pooling technical and specialist expertise. Besides working with a wide range of energy stakeholders, the EU institutions and policy makers, ACER works closely with other European agencies through the EU Agencies Network (EUAN). See the EUAN work programme 2023-2024.
ACER’s role includes:
Our overall purpose is achieving a transition of the European energy system in line with the political objectives set, reaping benefits of increased energy market integration across Europe, and securing low-carbon supply at least possible cost for European businesses and citizens.
The Agency promotes:
