dirk van evercooren – chair of the customer empowerment task force, ceer customer involvement in...

Dirk Van Evercooren – Chair of the Customer Empowerment Task Force, CEER

Customer involvement in energy markets

CEER’s 2020 Customer Vision

3rd MEDREG-IMME seminar – Tunis, 12 September 2013

The challenges are important…

33rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013

At CEER’s Customer Conference 2013

Eurelectric’s testimony said:

•The power sector is undergoing one of the most profound changes in its history:

Liberalisation / Decarbonisation & RES / IT developments → Decentralised green power system

New service model emerging based around energy efficiency offerings, smart grids, decentralised generation, new products

New customer archetype emerging: more aware and demanding, more engaged and active

CEER and ACER


Council of European Energy regulators

Presenting CEER

•CEER is the voice of Europe’s national energy regulators at European and international level

•Belgian not-for-profit association

•Organisation created in 2000 by national energy regulators cooperating on a voluntary basis towards the creation of a single EU electricity and gas market


CEER members

Members

Observers

National Regulatory Authorities from the 28 EU Member States

+ Regulatory Authorities from Iceland

and Norway

Switzerland + Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM)

CEER members are independent statutory bodies responsible for energy

regulation at national level


GA

Secretariat

Board

International Strategy

Customer and Retail marketsGasElectricity

Market integrity & transparency

Implementation benchmarking and monitoring

Liquefied Natural Gas

Gas Storage

Electricity security of

supply

Sustainable development

Electricity quality of

supply

Wholesale energy market

Efficiency Benchmarking

Market monitoring and reporting

Legal

Strategy and Communication

Retail Market Functioning

Customer Empowerment

CEER structure


Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators

What is ACER?•EU Agency of NRAs from EU Member States -> has its own staff and resources in Ljubljana, Slovenia

•NRAs volunteer significant resources to preparing ACER’s work

What are ACER’s main policy objectives and tasks? •Integrated EU internal energy market by 2014 (EU-wide Network Codes; Framework Guidelines for developing the regulatory framework for cross-border market arrangements; Regional Initiatives)

•An efficient cross-border energy infrastructure

•Transparency in the energy market (market monitoring tasks)


CEER and ACER

A complementary approach to energy regulation in Europe: •ACER: statutory tasks related to cross-border market development and oversight

•CEER: broader variety of issues (e.g. customer rights, sustainable development and climate change, technological development of electricity and gas networks), and a broader vision of Europe’s energy landscape both within and beyond EU borders (e.g. CEER’s international work)

CEER works closely with and supports the work of ACER


Some core CEER Activities

• Developing policy proposals (e.g. advice, guidelines, position papers)

• Analysing the state of play in different European countries on specific energy topics (e.g. benchmarking, monitoring reports), promoting the European objectives for the achievement of an internal energy market

• Continuous stakeholder dialogue such as consumer associations, industry associations, EU Institutions

• Participation in the political debate and EU initiatives (e.g. EC working groups on vulnerable consumers; price transparency; smart grids; standardisation activities)

CEER’s 2020 Customer Vision


A step-by-step approach

• June 2012: CEER presented a draft 2020 Vision for Europe’s Energy Customers

• November: 5th Citizens’ Energy Forum (London)

• June 2013: On the path towards achieving the Vision

• December: 6th Citizens’ Energy Forum (London)

• 2014-2020 Implementation and monitoring…


CEER Conference “On the path towards achieving

the 2020 Vision”

A step-by-step approachA step-by-step approach


What is our Vision?

• An energy sector that:• puts smallersmaller customerscustomers first• engages with and understands the diverse diverse

needs of customersneeds of customers• delivers servicesservices that meet those needs • anticipates future needs future needs • takes steps to protectprotect the interests of future future

customerscustomers• that uses resources efficientlyresources efficiently, and • offers all customers a fair deala fair deal


4 principles: RASP


The Vision and the supporters

• In November 2012 the Vision became a joint CEER-BEUC statement supported by 10 European and international organisations:• Alternative Dispute Resolution bodies• Industry, Retailers, DSOs

• The Vision supporters are joining efforts to implement the vision, as was demonstrated by the testimonials at the 2013 CEER Customer Conference


Broader support for the Vision

Vision supported by even more stakeholders

As of June 2013, 5 new supporters have joined

•IGU

•ANEC

•Coops Europe

•UEAPME

•CECODHAS


CEER 2020 Energy Customer Vision

• Putting customers first in the energy market

• Means giving consumers a voice

• Consumer organisations can play a very positive role, defending customer rights and detecting flaws in market functioning

• Regulators should try to use this to improve the regulatory process

Individually and collectively

Customer involvement


Customer involvement

A well-functioning retail market for electricity and gas requires active customers,

•both on an individual and

•on a collective level

Individual customers need to be empowered and protected

and consumer organisations can play an important role in the regulatory process, representing energy customers’ interests


Regulatory tasks

• The 3rd Energy Package implies new tasks to NRAs in the field of customer protection

• Also, monitoring the energy market benefits from consumers (organisations’) input

• Better regulation should also be based upon customer experiences

• Need for consultation of new regulation


CEER’s Work

Individual empowerment and protection:•Customers need information about the energy markets to become active customers and promote competition

•Inform customers about functioning of retail markets and about their rights

•Empower customers to become active market participants:

•Guidelines of Good Practice on Price Comparison Tools, 9 July 2012


On the CEER website…


Price Comparison Tools - 2013

ES

FR

IT

UK

CZ

FI

PT

SL

SE

NL DE

AT

BE

NRA-run

Privately-run with some kind of oversight

NRA-run in collaboration with ombudsman

PL


Consumer organisations

Consumer organisations are important partners in the regulatory process:

•They can pass on signals about market functioning (and market failure)

•They disseminate information from NRAs

•They provide guidance to customers about prices and rights, thus empowering them

•They are involved in complaint handling and (in some cases) Alternative Dispute Resolution


CEER’s Work

• Status Review on Roles and Responsibilities of NRAs in the field of Customer Protection (2012)

• Status Review on the Involvement of Consumer Organisations in the Regulatory Process (2013)

=> First findings


Are NRAs and consumer organisations in direct contact?

•Nearly all NRAs* are in direct contact with consumer organisations

•Most NRAs are in parallel in contact with different types of consumer organisations

* With one exception

YES

General consumer organisations

Energy consumer organisations

Other public interest groups List not exhaustive


Do NRAs and consumer organisations make use of each other’s public information?

NRAs

Consumer Organisations

NRAs and consumer organisations both use each other’s public information, however to a different extent

Flow of public information

Information Campaigns/Outreach to Consumers

Complaint Handling

Alternative Dispute

Resolution

Top 3 issues of collaboration:


Do consumer organisations participate in NRA decision making?

• Consumer organisations predominantly influence NRA decisions indirectly

• Indirect influence on the NRA decision making process is mostly exerted through continuous dialogue and/or other joint activities such as hearings or participation in public consultations

• Only in 2 (out of 26) countries, consumer organisations have direct power in the decision making process as an officially established party of the process, e.g. through membership in the NRA’s Board


How can CEER contribute?

• Engaging with policy makers to ensure that the customer impacts are considered

• Improving our own effectiveness in how we:• engage with customer organisations

• analyse and understand customer impacts

• Identifying and sharing best practices

• Ensuring that issues are identified early, analysed objectively and evidence is clearly communicated

• Analysing specific issues relating to how the energy sector operates and developing advice and guidance


How CEER plans to operate

We are proposing to make a number of changes to how we operate and engage with customers, industry and other players:

• Setting future work

• New forms of communication

• New approaches to engagement

• Capacity building

• Using available information better

Some best practices from NRAs


Ofgem’s Consumer First Panel

• 100 consumers from 6 locations across GB

• Meet 3-4 times a year, and membership changes annually

• Acts as a useful tracker of consumer attitudes towards industry

• Scope for in-depth deliberation

• Flexible vehicle can be applied to different parts of policy cycle

• After 5 years – has strong credibility within Ofgem

Trust Engagement

Satisfaction Confidence

Awareness

Priorities


Why don’t consumers engage??

Willingness to engage Ability to engage• Complexity • Inaccessible language• Low literacy and numeracy skills • No access to internet • In debt • ‘Limited consumer capacity’

• Sense of powerlessness as prices rise

• Dissatisfaction with suppliers• Lack of trust • Don’t have time and inclination• ‘Status quo bias’ • ‘Loss aversion’


Spain: a PCT operated by the NRA


Provide relevant information for customers

Informative charts that

can be printed


Thank you for your attention!

www.energy-regulators.eu

dirk van evercooren – chair of the customer empowerment task force, ceer customer involvement in...

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