Mergers between natural gas suppliers and electricity generators: should European consumers be concerned?

摘要

Liberalisation of energy markets created the opportunity for cross-sectorial mergers in Europe. The aim of this paper is to assess the effect of mergers between electricity generators and natural gas suppliers on electricity prices for household consumers. Our study focus on mergers that occurred in European markets between 1997 and 2007 and our results show that the existence of these vertical cross-sectorial mergers increases, on average, the final price of electricity for household consumers on markets where it occurs. There's evidence that any household consumer in Germany pays a price for their electricity 1.8% higher after the merger between EOn and Ruhrgas. Even in Finland, where the merger was not controversial, because it involved state-owned firms, the effect on prices was equally detrimental to consumers. Household prices after the merger are around 2% higher than they would be without the merger between IVO and NESTE.