dirk van evercooren – chair of the customer empowerment task force, ceer customer involvement in...
TRANSCRIPT
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
53rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
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
63rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
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
73rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
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
83rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
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)
93rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
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
103rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
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
123rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
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…
133rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
CEER Conference “On the path towards achieving
the 2020 Vision”
A step-by-step approachA step-by-step approach
143rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
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
153rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
4 principles: RASP
163rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
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
173rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
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
183rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
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
203rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
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
213rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
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
223rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
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
233rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
On the CEER website…
243rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
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
253rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
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
263rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
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
273rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
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
283rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
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:
293rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
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
303rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
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
313rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
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
333rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
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
343rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
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’
353rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
Spain: a PCT operated by the NRA
363rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013© Bundesnetzagentur 36
PCT tested by Stiftung Warentest
373rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
Provide relevant information for customers
Informative charts that
can be printed
383rd MedReg – IMME Seminar – Tunis, 11 – 12 September 2013
Thank you for your attention!
www.energy-regulators.eu