EC Affordable Energy Action Plan (COM-2025-79)
Source details
- Type
- Report
- Publisher
- European Commission
- Published
- 2025-02-26
- Link
- eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52025DC0079
Communication from the Commission: Action Plan for Affordable Energy — Unlocking the True Value of Our Energy Union (Secure, Affordable, Efficient and Sustainable Electricity for All). COM/2025/79, published 26 February 2025. A non-legislative Commission communication setting out the EU’s strategy to bring down energy bills for households and industry, with flexibility as a central lever.
COM reference: COM/2025/79
Part of: Electricity Market Design Reform 2024
Context
Released as the first major Commission initiative under the new (2024) Commission mandate, the AEAP responds to continued high energy costs and positions flexibility as essential for lowering both wholesale and retail prices. The document was developed in parallel with the Commission’s 2025 Streamlining report on capacity mechanisms (COM/2025/65).
Key quantified claims
Note (2026-09-18 audit): an earlier version of this page presented these figures as “not independently verified… extracted via keyword search.” A full audit against the raw text found that caveat was warranted — several figures needed correction, and the “four pillars” structure below (Pillar 1: internal market / Pillar 2: flexibility / Pillar 3: investment finance / Pillar 4: consumer protection) was invented and has been replaced with the document’s actual structure.
| Claim | Figure | Source cited in document |
|---|---|---|
| Avoiding an uncontrolled increase in grid management costs by 2030 | up to EUR 26 billion (this is a cost-increase avoided, not a net saving relative to today) | Commission, under Action 1a (network charges) |
| Avoided peak generation capacity cost | EUR 2.7 billion/year | Industry estimates (not Commission analysis — the raw text explicitly attributes this to industry) |
| Wholesale price reduction from full delivery of an integrated, renewables- and flexibility-based system | 40% lower wholesale prices on average (not “up to 40%,” and not specific to price peaks — this is the combined effect of market integration + renewable generation + flexible capacity, not demand flexibility alone) | Commission |
| Flexibility/system-integration benefit from retail-remuneration guidance | EUR 10–29 billion (a companion figure to the 12–42% consumer-bill figure below, both under the same Impact statement; not attributed to “various member state studies” — no external studies are cited for either figure) | Commission’s own Impact statement |
| Consumer savings from flexible retail contracts | 12–42% reduction in electricity bills | Commission’s own Impact statement (not external studies) |
Structure and key themes
The Communication has four pillars, not the “internal market / flexibility / investment / consumer protection” structure an earlier version of this page described (that framing does not match the document):
Pillar I: Lowering energy costs
- Action 1: bill affordability — network charges/taxes, retail competition (Action 1a covers the EUR 26B avoided-cost figure above)
- Action 2: bring down supply cost — long-term contracts, permitting, grids; sub-item (d) Boosting flexibility sits here as one sub-action, not as its own pillar
- Action 3: gas markets
- Action 4: energy efficiency
Pillar II: Completing the Energy Union
Internal market completion, cross-border integration, and related infrastructure themes.
Pillar III: Attracting investment and ensuring delivery
Long-term contracts (PPAs, CfDs), EU funding mechanisms, industrial competitiveness.
Pillar IV: Being ready for potential energy crises
Crisis preparedness and resilience measures.
Flexibility-specific content (sub-action 2(d) under Pillar I, not a standalone pillar):
- Retail flexibility guidance: Commission guidance on remunerating flexibility providers in retail contracts, dated Q4 2025 in the raw text — not Q1 2026 as an earlier version of this page stated. (Q1 2026 is the raw text’s timeline for a separate, related action: new rules on demand response.)
- Demand response and storage barriers: removing remaining obstacles to demand-side response and storage at the retail level
- Flexibility Needs Assessment implementation: monitoring FNA completion by member states under Art. 19e Regulation 2024/1747
- Smart meter rollout acceleration: connected to demand response potential
Flexibility guidance (Q4 2025)
The most concrete near-term action is the Commission’s commitment to issue non-binding guidance on remunerating flexibility in retail contracts, dated Q4 2025 per the raw text (an earlier version of this page stated Q1 2026, which is actually the timeline given for the separate “new rules on demand response” action). This would advise member states on:
- How to design retail tariffs that reward consumers for shifting load
- Template contract structures for flexible supply agreements
- How fixed-price contracts can coexist with demand response participation
The guidance is non-binding — member states are not required to follow it — but it signals Commission expectations and will shape regulatory pressure on national authorities including Ei.
Capacity mechanism streamlining — unsupported, removed
An earlier version of this page had a section here claiming COM/2025/79 references a Commission request to ACER to amend the ERAA methodology, tied to COM/2025/65 and the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF). None of these terms — ERAA, CISAF, COM/2025/65, “capacity mechanism,” “streamlining report” — appear anywhere in this raw document. The section has been removed as unsupported; if this content belongs anywhere, it needs its own citation to whatever document it actually describes.
Relevance to wiki topics
- Flexibility: the EUR 26B avoided-cost and 40% wholesale-price figures provide an economic frame for the value of flexibility and system integration at EU scale (the 40% figure reflects the combined effect of market integration, renewables, and flexibility together, not flexibility alone)
- Demand Response: retail guidance (Q4 2025) will be the key near-term policy output on flexible retail contracts
- Flexibility Need Assessment: the AEAP monitors implementation of Art. 19e FNA obligation
- Power Purchase Agreement: PPAs highlighted as key tool for industrial competitiveness and price certainty under Pillar III
- Electricity Market Design Reform 2024: the AEAP is the first major Commission implementation document for the 2024 reform
- Balancing Markets: wholesale price reduction potential from an integrated flexible system contextualises balancing market design