As part of the implementation of directives and regulations to regulate the market for electricity and gas in Europe, the Commission has prepared a report which highlights the progress that has been performed in this field in recent years, and warns of gaps in the transposition of standards into national legislation of some Member States and the need of continue investing in infrastructure.

After the liberalization of gas markets and electricity in the European Union, the EU energy sector has been significantly revitalized. The Commission has applied since 2008 a number of packages of measures which aim to achieve the correct application of Community legislation in Member States of the Union.

According to the report, the directives for gas and electricity have yet to finish applied four years after the end of the period had elapsed. Countries such as Denmark, Luxembourg and the Netherlands did complete the adaptation to the rules, and the UK, the Czech Republic, Greece, Germany and Latvia did so after an opinion from the Commission, but the Commission will consider infringement procedures in areas where directives and regulations on gas and electricity are not carried out.

Commission's report highlights that it appears they are beginning to build new energy infrastructure, which is crucial to overcome the fragmentation of historic energy markets in the EU. The trend will continue, although it may take some time because the planning and construction of these infrastructures is outlined with a long horizon. The study also shows a mixed picture of progress in the consolidation of the internal energy market. While the situation in more mature markets supports the potential benefits of energy market liberalization in some areas and Member States remain considerable obstacles to the efficient functioning of markets for gas and electricity.

One of the essential features of the period covered by the report was the rise in energy prices, partly due to rising oil prices in the international market, which triggered significant increases in final prices for energy. Industrial consumers of gas in Sweden, Slovakia, Luxembourg, Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania and Estonia experienced major price increases. For households, electricity prices were high in Hungary, Slovakia, Germany, Cyprus, Denmark and Poland (except in Germany, all have price regulation), and the lowest were found in Finland, France, Norway, Estonia, Greece and Latvia.

Since the summer of 2008, prices of primary energy dropped significantly. Competition and open markets should ensure that these price declines affecting consumers.

While there are short-term solutions, such as price regulation, which might seem advantageous to rapid increases in energy prices, the report stresses that this undermines investor confidence, discouraged market entry and endangers the full exploitation of the advantages of the energy market. In the coming decades, both the EU and in other parts of the world will require substantial investments in infrastructure. Only an internal market in electricity and gas that can function properly convey the correct price signals to encourage investment in the long term.