Liberalisation of Energy Markets. Effects on Gas and Electricity Generation, Distribution and Supply

Essay from the year 2012 in the subject Business economics - General, grade: 2:1, De Montfort University Leicester, course: International Business and Globalisation, language: English, abstract: Consumers mainly benefited from the liberalisation of UK energy markets in the 1980s through privatisation under Thatcher, because of lower prices due to increased competition between rival energy firms. This is because instead of a single monopoly, competitive markets try and compete through price wars. The energy markets were monopolies in many EU countries and held dominant power in the energy market which is considered inefficient. The EU claim that Liberalisation of the energy markets will benefit consumers through; raising employment levels, increasing business efficiency and increasing a country's potential economic development and GDP growth. We therefore need to focus on the impact of Liberalisation on these key areas to assess how advantageous this increase in competition has on the energy market.