On 2 July 2025, electricity transmission system operators (TSOs) submitted to ACER their proposal to amend how capacity calculation regions (CCRs) are defined across Europe. ACER is now gathering stakeholder views to inform its assessment.

What are capacity calculation regions and why are they important? 

CCRs are cross-border zones where neighbouring TSOs coordinate how much electricity can safely flow between them. This cooperation helps boost cross-border trade, prevent grid congestion and price spikes, and support a more secure, integrated European energy market. 

There are currently nine CCRs in Europe: Nordic, Hansa, Core, Italy North, Central Europe (CE), Greece-Italy (GRIT), South-West Europe (SWE), Baltic and South-East Europe (SEE). They are key to ensuring efficient electricity use, especially as more countries and renewables come into play.

What is the amendment about?

The TSOs are proposing:

• adding three new CCRs to the South-East Europe region to cover borders with Energy Community countries (East-Central Europe (ECE), Italy-Montenegro (IT-ME) and Eastern Europe (EE)); and
• merging two existing regions (Core and Italy North) for several regional processes like intraday coordination and congestion management. 

Your view matters!

ACER is assessing whether the TSOs’ proposal supports market integration, ensures efficient use of the grid and supports the well-functioning of the EU electricity market.

To make an informed decision, ACER is organising a public consultation from 24 July 2025 to 3 September 2025. Submit your views here.

ACER aims to reach a decision by December 2025.

Today, ACER publishes its fifth report on cross-border cost allocation (CBCA) decisions for electricity and gas infrastructure projects.

Covering 50 decisions made between 2014 and 2024, the report provides insights into how these decisions, issued by national regulators, determine the cost distribution of major cross-border projects and support project development.

How cross-border cost allocation works

Cross-border cost allocation is a mechanism designed to fairly distribute the investment costs of projects of common interest (PCIs) and projects of mutual interest (PMIs) among the countries involved. It aims to support project implementation, especially in cases where some countries would otherwise bear significantly higher costs than the benefits the project provides.

Project promoters submit investment requests to national regulatory authorities, who review them and issue CBCA decisions to determine how project costs should be shared among involved countries. This cost-sharing arrangement is required for projects to receive financial support through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), a major funding programme that supports the development of strategic infrastructure across Europe. 

ACER monitors all submitted investment requests and decisions taken by national regulators and regularly reports on emerging trends.  

What trends did ACER monitoring find? 

ACER’s report shows:

• Fewer decisions overall: The number of CBCA decisions fell by around 65% in the second half of the monitoring period (2019-2024). This reflects a drop in the number of PCIs included in the EU project lists, partly due to completion of major energy infrastructure projects, but also the phase-out of natural gas and Brexit, which made several projects ineligible for inclusion in the PCI lists.
• Costs stay national in most cases: Member States usually agree to cover their own costs, as each one benefits sufficiently from the project.
• Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) is the key driver: Access to grants, not the need to share costs, is the main reason project promoters submit investment requests. 
• No CBCA decisions yet for hydrogen: The sector is still in an early stage of development, but with hydrogen projects becoming eligible for inclusion in the PCI and PMI lists since 2023, CBCA decisions are expected in the coming years.

ACER’s 2025 retail energy country sheets offer a concise overview of the national electricity and gas markets across EU Member States and Norway. For the first time, the country sheets cover both sectors, presenting: 

• market and competition metrics for electricity and gas; 
• consumer trends (including contract types, contract switching rates and bill breakdown); 
• progress towards enabling more flexible consumers (through smart meter roll-out, prosumer participation, deployment of electric vehicles and heat pumps, and biomethane production); and
• a high-level assessment highlighting each market’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis). 

ACER has also updated its retail pricing dashboard, which shows monthly changes in household energy prices across EU Member States and Norway from January 2019 to June 2025.

What are the main findings in retail markets?

Electricity market

• Smart meters, a key enabler for demand-side flexibility, are largely in place across the EU, but roll-out levels vary among EU Member States and Norway. In half of EU Member States, deployment has reached 80%, while in 7, deployment remains below 20% (or no data was provided). 
• Although 2024 saw an increased number of hours with low wholesale electricity prices (below €5/MWh), fixed price and/or regulated contracts still dominate in 15 Member States at the household level. This widespread uptake limits consumers’ exposure to real-time price signals, preventing cost savings and hindering more innovative and flexible contracts. The limited adoption of dynamic-price contracts suggests that demand-side flexibility potential remains untapped.
• In 21 Member States, prosumers account for between 1% and 10% of households. The highest shares are observed in Belgium (22%) and the Netherlands (30%). 

Gas market

• 82% of residential energy consumption is used for space and water heating, underlining the importance of energy efficiency and building renovation strategies to support decarbonisation.
• A decline in gas demand has been recorded in 21 Member States since 2022, while biomethane production remains relatively low.

Market structure

• Both electricity and gas retail markets show moderate to high concentration across the EU, meaning a small number of suppliers hold a large share of the national market. 
• 20 Member States either recorded low switching rates (below 10%) or did not provide data, indicating limited competition or low consumer engagement.

The country sheets complement ACER’s retail Monitoring Report (coming in November).

Retail prices: Latest trends from ACER’s dashboard 

ACER’s retail pricing dashboard highlights the main trends in household electricity and gas prices. 

• Electricity prices across Europe stabilised by June 2025, ending the decline observed since early spring. Spain and Portugal recorded the sharpest monthly rises (+7% and +6%, respectively), followed by more moderate increases in Greece, the Netherlands, Italy and Austria. In contrast, prices declined in Norway (-7%), Estonia (-3%), and in Belgium, Latvia, Sweden and Lithuania (-2%). Most other countries recorded no change. On an annual basis, EU household electricity prices rose by approximately 3%.

• Retail gas prices also remained largely stable, with minor monthly changes: Belgium and Portugal registered small increases (+1%), while Italy recorded the largest decrease (-4%), followed by France and Latvia (-2%), and the Netherlands, Estonia and Austria (-1%). While retail gas prices remained unchanged month-on-month in most Member States, retail offers were approximately 7% higher than those available during the same period last year. 

What are the main trends in wholesale gas markets? Prices remained elevated year-on-year but showed little monthly change, despite volatility driven by global trade and security shocks. More information is available in ACER’s monitoring report on key developments in gas wholesale markets report, published today.

Published today, ACER’s latest report on key developments in European gas wholesale markets (Q2 2025) examines key trends in prices, supply and storage during the early months of the gas summer season. The analysis supports policy discussions on enhancing secure and competitively priced gas in Europe.

What trends did ACER monitoring find? 

• Gas wholesale prices and volatility: Average wholesale gas prices fell by over 20% compared to Q1 2025, following a high-price winter. Price volatility eased, but remained relatively high, while regional price differences widened.
• LNG imports: Liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports rose by more than a third year-on-year, supported by competitive hub prices, slack demand in Asia and expanded US liquefaction capacity.
• Pipeline imports: No major changes were observed except for Russian supply to the EU, which dropped by 45% year-on-year following the expiry of transit contracts via Ukraine. Deliveries now reach the EU only through the TurkStream pipeline.
• Gas storage: Gas injections increased by 75 TWh year-on-year, helping to reduce the gap in storage levels compared to previous years. This follows a relatively tight end-of-winter, when stocks were lower than in 2023 and 2024. 

Looking ahead

If current LNG inflows and storage injection levels continue, Europe is likely to enter winter with healthy reserves. Still, risks remain: extreme weather, disruptions to major supply sources, or geopolitical instability could alter the trajectory. On the supply side, the expected expansion of global LNG production in late 2025 and 2026 may help ease pressure.

Today, ACER hosted the Ukrainian energy regulator, NEURC, for a closed workshop on regulatory issues.

ACER Director, Christian Pilgaard Zinglersen, welcomed Mr Yuriy Vlasenko, NEURC Chairman, and Mr Oleksandr Formagei, Commissioner at NEURC, to ACER’s headquarters in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

The regulatory discussion focused on 3 energy issues:

• Ukraine’s integration into the EU electricity market;
• gas market developments and challenges; and
• implementation of REMIT (the EU framework that seeks to prevent market manipulation and abuse on wholesale energy markets) in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian regulator also spoke to the extensive damage done to energy infrastructure by Russian attacks - this making their simultaneous commitment to enact EU regulatory reforms all the more impressive.

The area of energy remains a key focus area, both during the current war in Ukraine and for post-war economic recovery. In February this year, the European Commission committed to Ukraine’s accelerated EU membership with a new package of support for energy security and Ukraine’s EU energy market integration.

Earlier this week, in Brussels, Ukraine completed its pre-accession screening process with the European Commission on energy issues and trans-European networks. This marks a key milestone of Ukraine’s fast-track path to EU membership.

Meanwhile this week, in Rome, at the Ukraine Recovery Conference, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled a new €2.3 billion package of agreements with international and bilateral public financial institutions to support Ukraine's recovery and reconstruction efforts. The conference pointed to strengthening Ukrainian institutions and promoting long-term sustainability.

ACER’s workshop today in Ljubljana, technical in nature and focused on core energy regulatory issues, is yet another example of the EU’s steadfast commitment to Ukraine's future in the EU. It follows ACER’s recent visit (in May) to Kyiv and an earlier ACER workshop dedicated to NEURC in October 2023.

NEURC called for further collaboration with ACER to strengthen its capacity and help get ready for its EU-based future.

ACER Director, Christian Zinglersen, confirmed “ACER is fully committed to collaborate with our Ukrainian colleagues as they accelerate regulatory reforms and enhance their human, technical and IT capacities. We all know the end destination (EU membership) and ACER wants to do its bit to enable this sooner rather than later."

Following a consultation process launched in March 2025, ACER has concluded that implementing peak-shaving products in the EU electricity market under normal conditions would bring more challenges than advantages.  

What are peak-shaving products?

Peak-shaving products are market-based tools that enable market participants to reduce their electricity consumption (during peak demand periods) in exchange for compensation.

Under the 2024 Electricity Market Design (EMD) Regulation, the Council of the EU can declare a regional or EU-wide crisis if wholesale electricity prices become excessively high. In such cases, Member States can direct system operators to use peak-shaving products to reduce power demand, helping stabilise the grid and lower prices.

Why an ACER assessment?

The EMD Regulation mandates ACER to assess the potential impact of developing peak-shaving products on Europe’s electricity market under normal (e.g. non-crisis) conditions. ACER’s assessment evaluates whether these products can be introduced without disrupting the normal functioning of electricity markets or redirecting demand response services towards peak-shaving products.

To strengthen its assessment, ACER engaged with more than 40 stakeholders, including through an Expert Group and a public consultation (spring 2025). 

What are ACER’s conclusions?

ACER’s assessment shows that the drawbacks of introducing peak-shaving products in the EU electricity market under normal conditions outweigh the potential benefits. Therefore, ACER does not recommend amending the existing legal framework to allow their use outside of electricity price crisis situations. Key concerns identified include:

• reduced overall socio-economic benefits;
• distorted cross-border competition; and
• weakened investment incentives for market-based demand response and flexibility.

In its assessment, ACER also provides recommendations to support Members States in implementing peak-shaving products during electricity price crises. These recommendations aim to enhance the products’ effectiveness and minimise any unintended consequences.

What’s next?

Based on ACER’s assessment, the European Commission will decide whether to propose amendments to the Electricity Regulation to allow peak-shaving products outside of electricity price crisis situations.

ACER publishes its Opinion on the Summer Supply Outlook 2025 prepared by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG).

The Summer Outlook evaluates the ability of the EU’s gas system to meet demand and handle storage injections during the upcoming summer and winter seasons.

The expected gas demand and supply projections are modelled under a reference scenario, which is complemented with various challenges to the gas system (such as cold winters and disruptions in Russian gas supply). 

What are the 2025 Summer Outlook’s main highlights?

The Outlook examines the EU’s dependence on Russian gas supply:

• In all scenarios, gas imports via the TurkStream pipeline (running from Russia to Turkey) are minimised.
• Two additional Russian gas disruption scenarios are modelled: a complete disruption of TurkStream and a 20% reduction of liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply.

In all scenarios, the Outlook concludes that the current European gas infrastructure is adequate to ensure security of gas supply.

These scenarios broadly align with the recent proposal by the European Commission to coordinate a gradual phase-out of Russian gas imports by stopping existing spot contracts by mid-2026, with the aim of ending all remaining gas imports by the end of 2027.

What’s in the ACER Opinion?

ACER welcomes the timely publication of ENTSOG’s Summer Outlook (April 2025), the modelling updates to reflect recent changes in infrastructure (e.g. new LNG terminals and cross-border capacities) and to cover the potential EU gas transit via Ukraine. ACER also suggests further improvements to the Outlook’s future editions:

• Include a gradual phase-out of Russian gas supply in a sensitivity scenario, reflecting the roadmap of the European Commission.
• Focus on LNG import trends, as the increasing global LNG market expansion is influenced by geopolitical instabilities (e.g. the current conflict in Iran may impact gas supply and price due to the country’s strategic location for energy exports).
• Review transmission system operators’ demand estimates by comparing them with past demand, political and economic trends, as well as with third-party projections.
• Explore the impact of gas prices on gas supply and storage filling, as it may alter the typical supply pattern. This would provide a more realistic assessment of the gas system in the coming year.

ACER publishes a new report and updates its interactive dashboard to showcase main gas balancing trends in the EU for the 2023-2024 gas year. 

Keeping Europe’s gas systems balanced efficiently

The Gas Balancing Network Code establishes market-based rules to ensure efficient balancing of gas supply and demand in European gas balancing zones. For example, it establishes rules that enable and incentivise network users to balance their positions. It also promotes the development of short-term markets by prioritising the use of standard wholesale products when transmission system operators (TSOs) need to manage any remaining system imbalances.

What’s the role of ACER?

Each year, ACER analyses data collected by the European Network for Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG) to monitor the implementation and effects of the Gas Balancing Network Code across Member States, focusing on:

• TSOs’ balancing activities;
• network users’ imbalances;
• neutrality (i.e. the cost or revenue generated by the balancing regime).

What does ACER monitoring show? 

• TSOs’ balancing actions have declined across most EU gas balancing zones: These interventions accounted for a decreasing share of the physical gas market at EU level.
• The changing gas market may be reducing the need for balancing. Lower gas consumption and a smaller physical market may have reduced the need for TSOs to actively balance the system. At the same time, higher gas prices may further incentivise users to stay in balance and avoid charges.

What does ACER recommend? 

ACER encourages national regulatory authorities to:

• Periodically review the performance of their balancing regimes and assess whether their design should be refined or revised.
• Ensure that incentives for commercial balancing are adequate and explore enhancements to information systems to facilitate network users’ participation.

ACER monitoring, together with market participants’ views (identified through public consultations) and regional cooperation can support regulators in these processes.

ACER is establishing a new European Stakeholder Group on demand response in the electricity sector. We invite associations that could offer a pan-European perspective on electricity markets to join. 

What’s the background?

On 7 March 2025, ACER submitted its proposal for a new EU-wide network code on demand response to the European Commission, in line with its framework guideline.

ACER’s proposal sets out common rules to ensure that demand response resources (such as consumers, storage providers and distributed generation) can fully participate in wholesale electricity markets, providing flexibility to the grid.

To support the implementation of these rules, ACER committed to coordinating stakeholder engagement on demand response topics by establishing a new dedicated European Stakeholder Group.

What will the demand response group do? 

The Demand Response European Stakeholder Group (DRESG) will act as an EU-level platform where ACER, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) and the EU Distribution System Operators Entity (EU DSO Entity) engage with stakeholders on key matters of demand response. The group will focus on:

• discussing proposals for terms and conditions or methodologies required by the new network code;
• addressing broader issues related to demand response; and
• supporting the practical implementation of the network code.

Through this new stakeholder group, participating associations will:

• Monitor the implementation progress of the code, including how newly established processes function at local, regional and EU level.
• Share views and feedback on the code’s implementation, ensuring stakeholder input is taken into account.
• Support more informed decision-making on the methodologies and rules to be developed under the code.

By doing so, the group will support the flexibility required by the EU electricity system (increasingly powered by renewable energy), strengthening energy security and advancing the EU’s transition to clean energy.

Who can join?

Associations that could offer pan-European views on demand response in electricity markets are encouraged to apply. Bring your insights to the table and ensure that your voice shapes the future of demand response!

Deadline to apply is 15 August 2025, with the first meeting planned for October 2025. See how to apply.

See the Terms of reference for the demand response stakeholder group.