ACER-CEER webinar: active consumer participation is key to driving the energy transition: how can it happen?

What is it about?

On Monday 7 October, CEER and the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) will hold a webinar to present the main findings and recommendations of their 2024 Market Monitoring Report: Active consumer participation is key to driving the energy transition: how can it happen? (to be published on 30 September 2024).

The retail energy sector must contribute to decarbonisation goals, but barriers to demand response and distributed energy resources persist (see the ACER report on barriers to demand response). This requires barriers to entry to be dismantled and supportive investment frameworks to be created to enable small, climate-compatible flexibility resources to participate in all electricity markets on an equal footing with traditional centralised sources of flexibility.

The event will focus on the changes needed to the retail energy sector to help achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

Why join the event?

The energy transition will not occur without power system flexibility and the active participation of energy consumers. However, do consumers have the adequate tools to actively participate in the market? Are they truly benefiting from recent low (and even negative) wholesale electricity prices?

As more Europeans move to electric vehicles and heat pumps, electricity consumption will rise, driving the need for demand-side flexibility by consumers. During the event, ACER and CEER will address:

• Decarbonisation enabling tools such as smart meters and dynamic price contracts that allow consumers to play their part in the clean energy transition.
• The importance of flexibility at consumer level, the need for efficient grid use, and the urgency of accelerating the roll-out of smart meters. It is necessary to create incentives for consumers to actively adapt their consumption when needed and for storage to be operated dynamically.
• How dynamic pricing and flexible contracts can empower consumers and drive a resilient, sustainable energy future. Traditional fixed/flat price contracts are insufficient; embedding flexibility and participation in the electricity market is essential.

ACER-CEER 2024 Market Monitoring Report: Active consumer participation is key to driving the energy transition: how can it happen? will be published on 30 September 2024.