About the proposal
DSO Entity welcomes the European Commission’s (EC) proposal on future-proofing electricity bills [1] and its core objectives of bringing down energy prices and accelerating digitalisation and electrification. Responding to the recent energy crisis, the proposal seeks to reduce the grid share of the bill – which accounts for roughly a quarter to a third of the household electricity bill – by incentivising system operators and users towards more efficient grid usage and development, including through digitalisation, and by introducing European harmonisation of tariff methodologies and Smart Grid Indicators (SGIs). It also includes new assignments for DSO Entity and ENTSO-E.
Grids are more than one line on the electricity bill
As the EC’s own Electrification Action Plan (COM (2026) 595) acknowledges, electricity networks are a strategic enabler of Europe’s clean energy transition and competitiveness, underpinning a more electrified economy while reinforcing prosperity and energy security. This links network regulation directly to today’s geopolitical priorities: reducing external dependencies by connecting more home-grown renewables and building grid resilience against increasingly severe weather events and cyber and physical threats, so that households and industries continue to be reliably supplied. Delivering on this requires sufficient investment in the smartening, expansion and renewal of grids, and, for that, a regulatory framework that is genuinely oriented towards enabling investment.
Common ground and gaps to close
DSO Entity supports the proposal’s direction and several of its elements: the recognition of anticipatory investment as a legitimate cost, the ambition for guiding EU principles on cost-reflective tariff methodologies, and a voluntary framework for grid data exchange established by DSO Entity alongside ENTSO-E. At the same time, other elements raise concerns at this critical juncture of the energy transition. Above all, because the proposal does not yet give system operators a secure basis to recover the investment that resilience, security and timely connections require, and because parts of it would shift decisions that belong at the national level to EU-level delegated and implementing acts. Attempts to introduce one-size-fits-all solutions and approaches such as obligatory benchmarking based on EU recommendations risk neglecting national specificities and the diversity of DSOs, with potential negative outcomes for the joint objective: guaranteeing a resilient and sustainable energy system while bringing energy prices down.
DSO Entity’s main messages:
- Ensure investment-oriented regulation: The right framework for efficient investments in grids should be provided to ensure a resilient system and timely connections and go beyond cost-efficiency only.
- Keep cost-reflectivity and cost recovery as the core objectives of tariff methodology principles. While guiding EU principles on cost-reflective tariff methodologies are supported (Art. 18), harmonisation via delegated acts (Art. 61(5a)) or any implementing acts is opposed, as they do not leave sufficient flexibility for national specificities.
- Ensure a proportionate benchmarking approach that fits a decentralised, diverse DSO landscape (one size does not fit all) (Art. 18(7)). In this respect, Smart Grid Indicators (SGIs) should not be conflated with efficiency KPIs.
- Align the proposal with overarching EU principles such as subsidiarity, regulatory flexibility, simplification, legal certainty and consistency.
Grid investment creates value now and lowers electricity commodity prices over time. Deferring it would only raise the cost later.
[1] Proposal for a Regulation amending Regulation (EU) 2019/943, as regards future-proofing electricity bills in the Union, through reducing system costs and fostering electrification and digitalization. COM(2026) 600 final.
Read the full reaction here.
Read the short version here.
For more information, please contact: Elisa.vandooren@eudsoentity.eu