In this chapter, we aim at determining how a country or a region is organised as a territory. As such, we identify the transmission system operators (TSO) and distribution system operators (DSO) for each country and region.
Furthermore, given that variations in prices may be due to local considerations, we specify whether a country is divided into zones for which results are presented individually rather than at national level.
Belgium
Belgium is divided into three regions, Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels as mapped below.
Figure 14 : Belgium national electricity market
Belgium’s transmission grid is run by a single operator, Elia, which therefore covers the entire territory. While most charges imposed by Elia Transmission Belgium as TSO are homogenised across the country, differences appear at regional levels. Consequently, the three regions are individually evaluated as some of their characteristics vary from one another due to the existence of differing (i) distribution charges (regarding E-RES toE1) (ii) transmission charges (regarding E-RES toE1) and (iii) taxes, levies and certificate schemes (regarding all profiles). Besides, while it is deemed that commodity cost for industrial consumers is interchangeable across Belgium, it is not the case when it comes to residential and small professional consumers.
Flanders
Distribution grids are the responsibility of each Belgian region. The table below displays a review of all DSOs in Flanders that operate on the regional distribution grid and their relative market share. Flanders counts 10 inter-municipal utility companies for electricity which are operated by Fluvius.
Table 8 : Electricity distributed and market share for each Flemish DSO (electricity)22
DSO Number of EAN connections (2021) Market share (%)
Imewo 643.557 18,24%
Fluvius Antwerpen 591.424 16,76%
Iverlek 547.828 15,53%
Gaselwest 450.284 12,76%
Fluvius Limburg 445.402 12,62%
Intergem 320.413 9,08%
Iveka 230.582 6,53%
Fluvius West 140.216 3,97%
PBE 94.540 2,68%
Sibelgas 64.403 1,83%
Total 3.528.649 100%
22 (VREG, 2020)
FORBEG – A European comparison of electricity and natural gas prices for residential, small professional and large
As distribution tariffs vary from one DSO to another, we, therefore, make use of a weighted average value for all 10 DSOs.
Wallonia
When it comes to Wallonia, there are 11 DSOs, mostly operated by ORES (Ores Hainaut, Ores Namur, Ores Brabant Wallon, Ores Luxembourg, Ores Verviers, Ores Est, Ores Mouscron) and RESA as they account for more than 95% of the market23. The distribution tariffs differ between DSOs, and a weighted average is being computed for profiles from E-RES to E1. Even if ORES and RESA represent the DSOs with the broadest coverage, all DSOs in Wallonia are considered in this study. TRANS MT24 is the highest tension level in Wallonia.
As in Flanders, the number of EAN connections for each DSO represents the backbone for the market shares computations, shown in the table below.
Table 9: Electricity distributed and the market share for each DSO in Wallonia (electricity)
DSO Number of EAN connections (2020) Market share (%)25
AIEG 25.810 1,37%
The DSO for electricity in Brussels is Sibelga, therefore accounting for 100% of the region’s market shares. In 2019, Sibelga supplies 722.433 EAN connection points with electricity.26
The table below exhibits the first impact caused by regional service obligations as a consequence of the grid connection levels. The regions can enforce public service obligations on grid operators running below or equal to 70 kV on their territory (repercussions on profiles E-RES to E2).
Table 10 : Overview of voltage distribution to Belgian system operators
Tension level Operator in charge Operator in Belgium
< 30 kV Distribution System Operator (DSO) Several 30 kV < x < 70 kV Local Transmission System operator
(LTSO) Elia Transmission Belgium in the 3 regions
> 70 kV Transmission System Operator (TSO) Elia Transmission Belgium (federal) Certificate schemes represent the second regional impact within Belgium that results from the local competence regarding renewable energy obligations matter on their territory. Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels institute their specific green certificate scheme on all electricity consumers within the affected region (all profiles under review).
In addition to assessing Belgium over the three regions, we consider different hypotheses: the consumer profiles E1toE4 take part in an energy efficiency agreement, and all industrial profiles are affiliated with the sectoral NACE-BEL classification codes 5-33 (all industries).
23 (CWaPE, 2020) – Bilan de la situation du marché de l’électricité pour l’année 2020 ; Gaselwest no longer operates in Wallonia since January 1st 2019.
24 See Glossary, p.12
25 Data received from the CWaPE (T3 2020)
26 (Sibelga, 2020) - Statistiques 2019
FORBEG – A European comparison of electricity and natural gas prices for residential, small professional and large industrial consumers
May 2021 108
Germany
Regarding Germany, consumers can participate in a single electricity market. We, therefore, assumed the commodity price is the same in the whole territory for consumers E-BSME to E4 who are highly likely to negotiate their electricity contracts with suppliers. With regards to profiles E-RES and E-SSME, the standard contract (“Grundversorgung”) and its supplier depends on the region. Consequently, the commodity cost is determined per DSO region because the standard contract supplier is different.
In Germany, four different TSOs are currently active; the following figure shows their geographical spread.
Figure 15 : Map of the German transmission system operators
● West Region: consists of Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland where Amprion is running the transmission grid.
● South-West Region: consists of Baden-Württemberg where Transnet BW is the TSO.
● Central Region: consists of Niedersachsen, Hessen, Bayern, Schleswig-Holstein where Tennet operates the transmission grid.
● East Region: consists of former East-Germany and Hamburg where 50Hertz is the local operator.
Regarding the geographical and economic eminence of these four areas (e.g. the smallest region has a similar population size than Belgium as a country), these zones are logically considered the same way we considered the three Belgian areas. We thus separately evaluate them.
In respect to the Belgium analysis, our profiles E-RES to E2also pay a distribution cost, which is further discussed in the section “Component 2 – network costs” for the residential profiles (p. 204) and “Component 2 – network costs” for the industrial profiles (p. 242). These four transmission zones appear to be the most accurate analysis regarding Germany as the country counts around 883 distribution system operators27. Considering the high number of DSOs in Germany, this increases complexity in observing German prices. Therefore, for the profiles E-RES to E2 under review (as they are connected to the distribution grid), we only take the prices from two predominant DSOs (a rural and an urban) for each of the transmission zones. An average distribution price is then derived from the two DSOs’ existing prices and is used as a unique price for the transmission zone in question. The table below, summarises studied DSOs and their respective market shares.
27 (Bundesnetzagentur, 2019)
FORBEG – A European comparison of electricity and natural gas prices for residential, small professional and large Table 11 : Market shares of German electricity DSOs
TSO DSO Number of EAN
connections (2019)
Market share (%)
Tennet Bayernwerk 2.303.773 70,43%
SWM 967.178 29,57%
Total 3.270.951 100%
50 Hertz E-Dis 1.395.378 37,24%
Stromnetz Berlin 2.351.575 62,76%
Total 3.746.953 100%
Amprion Westnetz 4.325.813 79,36%
RNG-Netz 2 –
Stuttgart Netze 392.925 15,43%
Total 2.546.009 100%
Contrary to other countries/regions the market shares of the DSOs are not used as weights because they are only a selection of the hundreds of German DSOs. The distribution tariffs of every DSO thus has the same weight.
As regards taxes, levies and certificate schemes, we observe no regional differences for electricity consumers, nor even local taxes28.
France
Concerning the electricity market, France is investigated as a single area. Concretely, the same commodity, distribution, transmission and taxes and levies prices apply to the whole territory. With regards to transmission, the RTE (“Réseau de Transport d’Electricité”) is the transmission System Operator (TSO) who is in charge of the transmission network. In contrast, Enedis constitutes the largest French DSO with an approximate market share of 95%29 (mainland). We thus consider this sole DSO for all consumer profiles connected to the distribution grid (E-RES to E1).