The German Federal Cartel Office presented its Market Power Report 2024/25 on February 19, 2026. In the report, the Bonn-based authority examines the competitive situation in electricity generation and first-time electricity sales for the period from May 2024 to April 2025.
According to the competition authority, the market power of the large suppliers has increased significantly. RWE, Leag and EnBW are particularly affected. According to the press release, President Andreas Mundt explained that the decline in controllable power plant capacities has a direct impact on competition and pricing. With capacities becoming scarcer, remaining plants are more often indispensable for meeting demand.
The main reason for this is the reduced supply of controllable generation. The temporary reactivation of reserve power plants, which was decided in 2022 as a result of the Russian attack on Ukraine, ended as planned at the start of 2024. With the expiry of these measures and further closures as part of the coal phase-out, the domestic supply was noticeably reduced. Focus on indispensable plants When assessing market power, the Bundeskartellamt does not primarily focus on market share. Instead, the decisive factor is how often a company and its plants are indispensable for supply. If the proportion of these so-called pivotal hours exceeds five percent of the annual hours, this indicates a dominant market position. According to the report, RWE is well above this threshold. Values above the presumption threshold are also found for Leag. EnBW reaches values close to the threshold, but does not exceed it.
The authority points out that the report itself does not constitute a formal determination of a dominant market position. Such a determination can only be made in the context of specific case-by-case examinations. However, companies with such a market position are subject to stricter antitrust regulations. In particular, they may not deliberately withhold capacity in order to increase prices. Against splitting the German electricity bidding zone The Bundeskartellamt is also critical of considerations regarding a possible division of the German-Luxembourg electricity bidding zone. According to the authority, a separation could further increase the market power of large suppliers.
The competition authority does not expect the situation to ease in the short term. The tenders for new controllable power plants planned by the German government could only bring additional capacity onto the market after several years. According to Mundt, the distribution of the awards will be decisive for how market concentration develops in the long term. In order to keep the supplier structure broader, he recommends limiting the awards to ten percent of the tendered capacity per bidder.
The increasing scarcity is already having an impact on market activity. According to the authority, price peaks in short-term wholesale electricity trading are occurring more frequently and are more pronounced, especially in winter and at off-peak times. However, investigations carried out jointly with the Federal Network Agency into price peaks during so-called dark doldrums at the end of 2024 did not reveal any evidence of abusive behavior. The decisive factor was the scarce availability of controllable capacities. Electricity imports and balancing energy markets At the same time, the importance of electricity imports has increased. In around a quarter of the hours in the reporting period, demand in Germany could only be fully met with the help of imports. Import options can limit market power, but their effect depends on available cross-border lines and foreign generation capacities.
The Bundeskartellamt also examined the balancing energy markets. The competitive situation there has hardly changed in comparison to the previous period. EnBW continues to play a leading role in certain balancing energy products.
The market power report is published at least every two years. According to the Federal Cartel Office, it is intended to provide market participants with an orientation as to whether they could be considered dominant companies and are therefore subject to abuse supervision under antitrust law.
The complete Market Power Report Electricity Generation 2024/25 is available online.
Author: Susanne Harmsen | |
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