• Stakeholder consultations

In preparation for the present initiative, the Commission has conducted a public consultation from 23 January 2023 to 13 February 2023. The consultation was open to everybody.

The Commission received 1369 replies to this consultation. More than 700 of those have come from citizens, around 450 from businesses and business associations, around 40 from national or local administrations or from national regulators and around 70 from network operators. Also, around 20 energy communities, 15 trade unions and 20 consumers organisations participated. A significant number of NGOs, think tanks and research or other academic organisations submitted responses as well. An overview of stakeholders' opinions is available in the Staff Working Document accompanying this legislative initiative.

In addition, the Commission organised an online targeted stakeholder consultation meeting on 15 February 2023 which counted with the participation of around 70 market actors, non- governmental organisations, network operators, ACER and national regulators, think tanks and academics. The consultation overall highlighted that the stakeholders considered that:

- Short-term markets and the pricing mechanism based on marginal pricing should be preserved, as they function well and provide the right price signals. Short-term (day- ahead and intraday) markets are well-developed, and they result from years of implementation of EU energy legislation.