7th Benchmarking Report on the Quality of Electricity and Gas Supply

In this 7th Benchmarking Report on the Quality of Electricity and Gas Supply, for the first time jointly written by CEER and the Energy Community Regulatory Board (ECRB), the main focus is on monitoring of the quality of electricity and gas supply, which constitutes an essential tool in the overall supervision of well-functioning energy markets. CEER and ECRB seek to provide valuable information on the practices regarding quality of supply and the regulatory framework, with associated recommendations for good regulatory practices and incentives that could be adopted in Europe.

A few findings to highlight include that, excluding exceptional events, the majority of countries decreased or at least maintained their unplanned minutes lost and the number of interruptions per customer from the beginning to the end of the observed period for electricity. Interruptions in gas, while much less common than those in electricity, can lead to a high risk of safety, resulting in greater efforts to avoid an interruption than in electricity. Even though gas interruptions are less frequent, they usually last longer than those in electricity. Many countries reported improved continuity of supply (a shorter duration or a lower number of interruptions) when incentive regimes/compensation schemes were implemented, even with indicators that are not regulated.