Spanish and Portuguese electricity regulators have developed plans for a single electricity market covering the Iberian Peninsula. The market, called Mibel, would involve 30 million customers.
The regulators have presented the plan to their respective governments with the hope of implementing the scheme to integrate the systems by January 2003. As part of the integration they want to limit the penalties customers are forced to pay if they change supplier and to see the price offered by suppliers advertised.
Currently four operators control 75 per cent of production and 94 per cent of distribution in the Iberian market. The four are Endesa, Iberdrola and Union Fenosa in Spain and EDP-Hidrocantabrico in Portugal.
As part of the attempt to limit the dominance of these companies, the regulators are planning to limit to two years the length of contracts with customers.