The key player or just a paper tiger? The effectiveness of ACER in the creation and functioning of the EU’s internal energy market

Abstract

Our research, which aims to present the effectiveness of the European Union’s internal energy market, shows the results of a recent survey conducted among representatives of national energy regulators and exchanges from eleven EU Member States. Due to the choice of the research method based on the SOFIA concept, the results constitute a new original contribution to the existing treasury of knowledge in the field of the European energy market. In the concrete case of sociological analysis, we checked how successful the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) is in establishing and ensuring the functioning of the internal energy market in the EU. The survey examines the performance of ACER, which became operational in March 2011 and is intended to contribute to the establishment and functioning of the EU’s internal energy market from the perspective of ACER, national energy regulators and energy exchanges in EU Member States. ACER’s basic mission is to ensure the successful functioning of the energy market, which, as a result (of successful operation), will lead to the full integration of the internal market, and consumers will receive energy uninterruptedly from all parts of the Union. Our research also showed that ACER is crucial for the functioning of the internal market. Most representatives of national regulators and energy exchanges agree that the EU already has a functioning internal energy market and that ACER is crucial for the functioning of the internal energy market.