Handbook for National Energy Regulators — How to Assess Retail Market Functioning
Introduction
This document presents a first review of the metrics in CEER's 2017 Handbook for National Energy Regulators in light of the implementation of the Clean Energy for All Europeans Package (CEP), the Electricity Market Reform (EMD), and the Gas Decarbonisation Package. CEER has updated and expanded the Handbook’s metrics, reflecting recent EU legislation on retail markets and consumer protection.
Context and Purpose
The original 2017 CEER Handbook was designed as a practical tool for National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) to assess the performance of their national retail energy markets.
The revised Handbook continues to serve as comprehensive monitoring guidance for NRAs. It outlines how regulators can self-assess the functioning of their retail markets using standardised metrics in light of recent regulations.
A Public Consultation on the revised version of the Handbook ran from 2 April to 7 May 2025, gathering feedback on the relevance, sufficiency, and clarity of the proposed properties and metrics. This updated version incorporates relevant suggestions from the stakeholders’ input.
Key Findings
The Handbook defines 8 key properties of well-functioning retail markets:
- Low Concentration within a Relevant Market
- Low Market Entry Barriers
- Close Relationship between Wholesale Markets and Retail Prices
- A wide Range of Offers, including Demand Response
- High Level of Awareness and Trust
- Availability of Empowerment Tools
- Sufficient Consumer Engagement
- Appropriate Protection
For each property, CEER has defined 28 metrics and corresponding quantification indicators to help assess national markets. Following the public consultation, three new metrics were included, and metric 12 was revised for clarity regarding disclosure requirements. The new metrics focus on:
- Regulatory and Legal Requirements for Market Access
- Market Resilience and Supplier Stability
- Cybersecurity and Data Protection of Energy Data
