Barriers to a Real Competitive Business Environment on the Liberalised Energy Market

Liberalised efforts targeting opening public utility markets and emphasising the beneficial effects of creating a competitive business environment have been increasing in the past few decades. A number of strategically important sectors have already been liberalised (e.g., energy, telecommunication, postal services, railway services, etc.); thus, the circle of strategic sectors to be liberalised is gradually shrinking. The energy market has become completely market-oriented, which has brought about several changes. Liberalised processes have created new opportunities in purchasing energy. The experience gained in this process highlights some unfavourable impacts of liberalisation. The effective competition expected from structural changes in the energy sector has only partially been achieved. This study aims at analysing the main reasons for the evolved situation.