A European E.ON-slaught

Published By Datamonitor

A fully competitive European energy market may remain a Brussels pipedream

The liberalization of the European energy market has advanced only slowly over the past eight years. One month on from the latest directive deadline, Datamonitor's Salman Wasti reviews how uncertainty over the EU constitutions could create a new barrier to progress...

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A storm is brewing in the East despite temporary gas truce

The January 2006 Russia-Ukraine gas deal has been temporarily extended to the autumn; a temporary truce largely driven by Russia's position as chair of the G8. There are two events on the horizon with potentially serious implications for the reliability of gas supplies to Europe: Yulia Tymoshenko's appointment as Ukrainian prime minister, and Turkmenistan's decision to hike gas prices to Russia.

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A windfall tax on the UK energy industry is unlikely to prove beneficial

Upward pressures on UK wholesale gas and power prices are being driven by strained supply and demand fundamentals. Imposing a windfall tax on the UK energy industry is unlikely to resolve this issue whereas increased incentives for energy investment in UK gas storage facilities would go some way towards achieving that aim.

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AEP/Seeboard: EDF the favorite, but it's a tough field

EDF is clear favorite to acquire the utility, which would give it control of much of the electricity customer base in the affluent south of England. It would also gain the last realistic opportunity to gain customers through acquisition in UK electricity. However, rivals such as Scottish & Southern, RWE and E.ON are likely to put up a serious fight.

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AEP: joining the rush back home

US utilities from AEP to Reliant are running scared from competitive retail markets outside the US. Only TXU, which also has to face deregulation back home in Texas, is presently capable of operating successfully in such a challenging environment.

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AEP: staying in the UK, albeit with foreign coal

Low wholesale power prices are adversely affecting the UK coal industry; having ruled out further investment, AEP is now searching for other ways to reduce costs. With imported coal cheaper than that from the UK, increasing imports seems inevitable. Although this is bad news for UK coal, it does at least confirm AEP's commitment to stay in the UK power and coal markets.

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AES: cutbacks could hurt future growth

AES' languishing share price in the wake of Enron has forced it to scale back its growth plans. This is unfortunate, given that one of the long-term strengths of the company is its involvement in developing markets. If this situation continues, more US utilities may have to sell out to cash-rich foreign companies - as seen in Centrica's acquisition of NewPower.

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Aggreko: success in Germany is a signal of things to come

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Aggreko: US still driving profits

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