6 June (BNS)

The Estonian parliament on Wednesday passed amendments to the electricity market law that will fully open the market to competition from 1 January 2013.

The bill was adopted with 54 votes for, 27 against and two abstentions.

When the law takes effect consumers will be able to freely choose their electricity seller regardless of which grid company's clients they are. They will also be able to change their electricity seller once a month.

The full opening of the market concerns purchasing of electricity while the fee for the network service will remain under the regulation of the Competition Authority. The price of electricity currently makes up around one third of the total price of the power supply service.

The deregulation of the electricity market and amendment of the electricity market law arise from Estonia's accession agreement with the European Union and EU energy directives.