- No 'flexibe' unbundling
Transmission ownership unbundling, according to the report, is the "most effective tool to promote investments in infrastructures in a non-discriminatory way, fair access to the grid for new entrants and transparency in the market".
The committee voted to reject language contained in an earlier draft of the report, which argued in favour of a "flexible" position on unbundling through the use of an independent system operator to act as "a more feasible option for those member states lagging heavily behind".
Despite its support for unbundling, the report also "underlines however that this model might not address all the issues at stake such as interconnections or congestion points".
- Gas: different measures needed
Because gas-sector profits are generally made from distribution rather than generation capacity, the report argues that the unbundling of the gas sector is "not straight forward", particularly for those companies that import their gas from third countries such as Russia. The report urges that "specific solutions will have to be developed for this sector to achieve the completion of the gas internal market, taking into account the differences between the upstream and downstream markets".
