The special report focuses on the wholesale markets, the markets for control and balancing energy, and the management of capacity constraints in the electricity and gas networks. To safeguard competition in the wholesale markets, the Monopolies Commission calls for the introduction of comprehensive market monitoring by an independent market surveillance body. In the gas market, a significant increase in market liquidity is also essential. Control and balancing energy, which is required by network operators to ensure the stability of network operations, should be traded on a competitive basis. In this regard, the Monopolies Commission identifies significant shortcomings in implementation in both the electricity and gas sectors. In the electricity sector, it is therefore proposed that the four German control areas be merged under an independent central control authority. In the gas sector, the Federal Network Agency’s regulatory powers should be strengthened and a central trading platform established. The European internal electricity market is hampered by numerous capacity bottlenecks at the German border. The Monopolies Commission calls for the consistent application of suitable auction procedures to manage these bottlenecks. The priority here is to ensure that border interconnection points are always utilised to full capacity. In the gas sector, capacity bottlenecks between market areas within Germany predominate. Efforts to eliminate these capacity bottlenecks must be stepped up in order to achieve a unified German gas market. The Monopolies Commission has so far observed signs of capacity hoarding and therefore assumes that, with efficient market-based management, these bottlenecks will not prove to be permanent. In the Monopolies Commission’s view, the revenue generated from congestion management in the energy networks must be used in full to reduce structural bottlenecks.

In accordance with its statutory remit, the Monopolies Commission acknowledges the Federal Network Agency’s administrative practice. In this regard, it calls in particular for the introduction of quality regulation within the framework of the incentive regulation that recently came into force, rigorous implementation of the unbundling requirements for integrated energy groups, and an accelerated merger of market areas in the gas sector. The work of the Monopolies Commission is currently made considerably more difficult by the fact that, unlike in the telecommunications sector, for example, there is no right of access to the procedural files held by the Federal Network Agency regarding its administrative practice in the energy sector.

In its assessment of competition supervision by the European Commission and the Federal Cartel Office, the Monopolies Commission has expressed criticism of the regulatory decisions on commitments, which are questionable from a regulatory perspective, and the application of price abuse controls pursuant to Section 29 of the German Act against Restraints of Competition (GWB).