European officials have tabled at least three proposals that would decouple electricity prices from gas prices in order to provide a permanent solution resulting in lower-cost electricity.

The proposal for a split of day-ahead electricity markets, promoted by Pantelis Kapros, Professor of Energy Economics at the National Technical University of Athens, would remunerate fossil fuel, renewables, nuclear, biomass and other forms of electricity generation in different ways.

The idea has been gaining greater acceptance in Europe, while certain EU member states are already looking at technical details.

Some European officials insist that eco-friendly generation, such as renewables, should operate exclusively through bilateral contracts. Others, mainly in Germany and the UK, prefer a mandatory pool with a marginal price and even a cap when there is a scarcity of renewable energy sources. Furthermore, some officials are advocating a mixed solution entailing co-existence of bilateral contracts with an organized market for renewables, along with a pool, which would be used as a last resort.