Principles of Public (Universal) Service in Directive About Electricity and Gas Regulation

The paper deals with the problem of analysis of principles of public (universal) service in Directives about electricity and gas regulation. Since July 1, 2004 the electricity sector in the European Union has been regulated in accordance with the Directive 2003/54/EC of the European Commission about Electric Power, which contains the set of important regulations based on the concept of public service. Thus, according to the Directive, electricity regulation is carried out on the following principles of public (universal) service: security of supply; standard quality; availability of the price; environmental protection. The similar Directive 2003/55/EC is devoted to the regulation of the gas market. Another Directive of the European Commission 2005/89/EC is devoted to measures to ensure the security of electricity supply and infrastructure investments. In particular, this directive obliges the participating countries to take measures directed on providing the high level of security and reliability of electricity supplies. There are the following measures, in addition to a sufficient legal framework: the availability of an adequate level of power to ensure a balance between supply and electricity demand; the sufficient level of investment in the development of infrastructure that provides energy transport, etc. We made the conclusion that the experience of reforming and regulating energy markets according to principles of public (universal) service is very valuable for other countries