Source: European Parliament
Significant capital is required for investments in modernising and expanding our grid. This is essential to facilitate the deployment of renewables and electrification. Investing EUR 2 billion per year in cross-border networks provides EUR 5 billion in benefits for citizens yearly. In parallel, it is important to mitigate network costs impact on electricity bills. Spreading these investments over time and optimising the use of existing grids can help ensure that costs remain contained for consumers.
In the Affordable Energy Action Plan[1], the Commission has announced a series of actions to address the impact of network tariffs on consumer bills to be put forward by the second quarter of 2025. This includes a methodology for network charges that encourages flexibility and investments in electrification, guidance on using public budgets to reduce network charges in line with state aid rules, and guidance for anticipatory investments. The EU also provides substantial funding for grids, including through the Connecting Europe Facility to support key cross-border energy infrastructure projects. In addition, the Commission has proposed to facilitate funding of energy interconnectors and related transmission infrastructure as part of a modernised cohesion policy[2].
Infrastructure projects with cross-border impact face challenges with rising costs and fair distribution of costs and benefits. Regarding sharing costs across benefiting countries, the cross-border cost-allocation in the Trans-European Networks for Energy (TEN-E) framework has helped the allocation of costs across borders for Projects of Common Interest. In addition, the Commission will develop effective cost-sharing mechanism in the upcoming European Grids Package.