Consequences of the ECJ ruling on the independence of the Bundesnetzagentur: burden or blessing?

On 2 September 2021, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that the German energy regulator, the Bundesnetzagentur, must become independent of the restraints of German regulatory law. Although the Bundesnetzagentur has already announced that it will apply the existing legal framework for the upcoming fourth regulatory period in order to maintain legal certainty, the long-term consequences of the ECJ’s ruling are unclear. What is clear is that in many areas the Bundesnetzagentur will likely have greater powers in its decision-making, without being bound by the detailed requirements of the existing regulatory law.

Join us on 13 October to discuss the important implications of this ruling with energy industry experts.

• What influence will these greater freedoms have on the future revenues of electricity and gas network operators?
• More independence for the Bundesnetzagentur: does this create more risk or opportunity for network operators?
• How can the quality of regulatory decisions be ensured in the future?
• What influence does this ruling have on case law?

Chair:

• Professor Dr Christoph Kaserer, co-director of the Center for Entrepreneurial and Financial Studies (CEFS) and Full Professor of Finance at Technische Universität München (TUM), and Oxera Associate.

Speakers:

• Dr Ingo Schmidt, Director of Regulatory Affairs at TenneT
• Dr Oliver Franz, Head of Regulatory Management, E.ON SE
• Sir Philip Lowe, Partner at Oxera
• Sabine Streb, Head of Regulation Management at Netze BW GmbH
• Wiegand Laubenstein (VROLG a.D. ), Attorney at Law at Rosin Büdenbender Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH

At this event, you will also have the opportunity to find out more about our new EffizienzApp, which you can use, amongst other things, to evaluate the regulatory discretion of the Bundesnetzagentur in determining the efficiency values for your company. A brochure containing the most important information about the app can be found here. Following the event, a free trial version of EffizienzApp will be made available.

We look forward to seeing you!

*These two events are being run by Oxera Consulting LLP (‘Oxera’). The information that you provide to us will be kept solely for the purpose of running these events. In organising and conducting the events, Oxera will act as the sole data controller and will store and use your data in accordance with our privacy policy which can be found at Oxera.com. After such time, the data will be stored and used in accordance with the privacy policy of Oxera. If you have any questions with regard to your data and how it is used, you can contact [email protected].