This segment of ERRA's 25th Anniversary Podcast features Luca Lo Schiavo, ERRA's Senior Regulatory Specialist discussing Transformation in Regulating Energy Over the Last 25 Years with Jorge Vasconcelos, Chairman of the New Energy Solutions (NEWES), Portugal.

Luca Lo Schiavo and Jorge Vasconcelos discuss how energy regulation has evolved over the past two decades, shifting from a relatively narrow focus on efficiency, competition, and quality of supply to a far more complex task shaped by sustainability, security, geopolitics, and rapid technological change. They highlight three key drivers of complexity: changing political expectations of regulators, a shift from steady demand growth to long-term stagnation and now renewed growth driven by electrification and data centers, and a transformation of energy policy toward decarbonization and strategic autonomy. The conversation also addresses the growing role of the state, market failures, active consumers, self-generation, and digitalization, concluding that energy must be seen not just as a commodity but as a core element of political and social life.