NMa has brought about increased competition on natural-gas market
The Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa) has ensured that Dutch natural-gas supplier GasTerra will be taking measures leading to increased competition on the wholesale market for natural gas. Energy suppliers will have more choice when buying natural gas. It is expected that consumers will pay less as a result thereof. The most important measure GasTerra will be taking is offering energy companies a new flexibility service for the storage of natural gas. This service is necessary in order to be able to meet fluctuations in demand for natural gas in summer and winter. The measures GasTerra will be taking will come into effect in the course of 2011.
GasTerra, the largest supplier of natural gas in the Netherlands, will be taking these measures as result of monitoring of and investigations into the natural-gas market, as well as a result of serious discussions with the NMa. Pieter Kalbfleisch, chairman of the Board of the NMa, explains: 'The measures GasTerra will be taking are beneficial to the natural-gas market. For years the NMa has noted that there is still room for improvement with regard to competition on the natural-gas market. Competition on the energy market not only means that consumers should be able to have a choice between different suppliers, but also that those suppliers themselves have the opportunity to choose between different wholesale suppliers of natural gas.'
More flexibility
End users' demand for natural gas fluctuates throughout the day, season and year. In order to deal with these fluctuations, energy suppliers should therefore take this into account when buying natural gas. To meet fluctuating demand per season, energy companies are in need of gas storage products. At the moment, GasTerra is the company that, by far, has the most options regarding such flexibility, which means that energy companies are largely dependent on GasTerra. The gas storage service that GasTerra will now offer will increase flexibility on the Dutch market. Another one of GasTerra's measures is to offer natural gas in different ways, such as offering natural gas for one day or for one hour, for example. Energy companies are thus given more options to meet the fluctuations in demand. As a result thereof, energy companies are given more choice when buying natural gas.
These measures will result in energy companies becoming more able to combine natural gas from different suppliers: Dutch natural gas with, for example, natural from Norway, Russia or LNG. In addition, they will increase trade on the natural-gas market. Increased trade in natural gas generally leads to lower market prices, which in turn lead to lower consumer prices.