Interview: Regulators pushed forward on electricity market integration in 2025 - Here’s how they achieved it
In late September, the Energy Community Regulatory Board and its Electricity Working Group advanced the region’s integration with the EU power market, underscoring the pivotal role regulators now play in shaping the framework for cross-border trade and system stability.
Enhancing regulatory coordination and building institutional capacity to meet EU standards and facilitate cross-border trade is increasingly important under the Energy Community's Electricity Integration Package. Full transposition of the package gives Contracting Parties the opportunity to couple their electricity markets with the EU even before accession, strengthening competitiveness, enhancing security of supply, and sending the right investment signals for the energy transition.
Under the Electricity Integration Package, the Energy Community Regulatory Board (ECRB) has an increasingly important role to play. The European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) now decides on cross-border issues between Contracting Parties and EU Member States, requiring stronger ECRB–ACER coordination in decision-making processes. At the same time, national regulatory authorities (NRAs) have authority over regional terms, conditions, and methodologies (TCMs) concerning Contracting Parties and neighbouring Member States, within deadlines set by the Network Codes and Guidelines. TCMs are crucial for alignment with EU electricity market rules, as they establish common standards for cross-border trade, including market and system operation. This shift has moved regulators the centre of the market integration process.
The following Q&A takes a closer look at the work of the ECRB and its Electricity Working Group in building consistent regulatory practices across the region and laying the foundation for a more integrated, transparent, and resilient regional electricity market.
What's the ECRB and the ECRB Electricity Working Group and why do they matter?
ECRB is the independent regional body of energy regulators in the Energy Community and beyond. It is composed of high-level representatives from Energy Community Contracting Parties’ NRAs, observers and participants. The European Union, represented by the European Commission, acts as Vice-President and is assisted by ACER.
The ECRB is the coordination platform for exchange of knowledge and development of best practices for regulated electricity and gas markets in the Energy Community. With the transposition of gas network codes and the Electricity Integration Package in the Energy Community legal framework, the ECRB gained new competencies and decision-making powers to foster integration of Contracting Parties’ energy markets in the internal EU electricity and natural gas markets.
The ECRB Electricity Working Group is where the region’s national energy regulators coordinate to advance electricity market integration and work towards the performance of ECRB obligations. The Working Group’s role is critical in undertaking ECRB's electricity market monitoring tasks and preparing associated reports, analyses or opinions for ECRB's adoption. It also enhances NRAs' technical expertise on complex regional coordination mechanisms essential for effective EU market participation.
How is the ECRB driving market integration in 2025?
Meetings are key spaces to coordinate regulatory approaches, exchange experiences, and track progress on electricity market integration. At its Plenary on 30 September, ECRB members reported on the implementation of the Electricity Integration Package and related regulatory measures in their respective Contracting Parties — key steps that will accelerate the integration of Energy Community electricity markets with the EU’s internal market. The Plenary also reviewed the status of ongoing regulatory processes for the adoption of terms, conditions, and methodologies.
This meeting built on the work of the ECRB Electricity Working Group, which held its third annual meeting a few days earlier, on 26 September. The Working Group discussed delivery of the 2025 Workplan, including coordination of positions on TCM adoption, monitoring wholesale electricity markets (to ensure transparency and prevent market abuse), analysing renewable energy integration (to support the clean energy transition), and assessing transmission and distribution tariff methodologies (to provide fair and efficient pricing). Finally, the Electricity Working Group addressed the implementation of connection network codes in the Contracting Parties, a key step for enabling cross-border system compatibility and secure grid operation.
Beyond coordination and oversight, the ECRB is also heavily committed to capacity building. To further prepare Energy Community NRAs for accelerated EU market integration, for example, the Electricity Working Group held a workshop on 3 October. Featuring presentations from ACER, Market Coupling Steering Committee (MCSC), the Energy Community Secretariat, and The Italian Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks and Environment (ARERA), the workshop provided practical know-how for complex regional coordination. It addressed topics from how transmission capacity is calculated across regions and the EU’s 70% requirement for cross-border trade, to how national regulatory authorities supervise the operation of Nominated Electricity Market Operators (NEMOs), which run day-ahead and intraday markets. Regulators also looked at priorities for regional cooperation formats, which help align rules and ensure consistent implementation of EU electricity market standards.
Together, these strengthen the technical expertise of Energy Community regulators essential for effective participation in the EU framework.