Brussels, 13 May 2026 – This morning, E.DSO and GEODE held a breakfast discussion at the European Parliament on “Enabling Grid Investment for the Energy Transition – Revenue Regulation for Electricity Distribution System Operators (DSOs)”, hosted and moderated by MEP Nicolás González Casares (S&D, Spain).
The event brought together over 25 participants, including representatives from the European Parliament and European Commission, regulators, stakeholders, and DSOs from across Europe. It provided a valuable opportunity to discuss how revenue regulation for DSOs works across Member States, including both effective and less effective practices and its impact on facilitating a favourable investment framework.
Opening the discussion, MEP González Casares underlined the central role of grids in the energy transition and highlighted the importance of investing in clean energy infrastructure to strengthen competitiveness. He continued by highlighting that no Member State has a perfect regulatory system, but that implementable good practices already exist across Europe. Three elements, all featured in the joint paper, are pivotal in his view: long-term predictability, anticipatory investment, and the equal treatment of CAPEX and OPEX.
The event continued with a presentation of the joint E.DSO and GEODE paper on revenue regulation, published in November 2025, introduced by GEODE Secretary General Carmen Gimeno, who once again stressed the need for anticipatory investments to ensure infrastructure is delivered on time.
This was followed by a presentation of the Spanish case featured in the paper by Santiago Gallego Amores (i-DE, E.DSO member), who highlighted that the Spanish framework does not reflect sufficiently the ambition needed in order to enable DSOs to make the investments and transformations needed. The presentation ended with an overview of the paper’s key takeaways by E.DSO Secretary General Charles Esser, emphasising the importance of remuneration criteria enabling needed levels of investment.
The discussion then turned to the institutional perspectives on revenue regulation for DSOs across Europe. This included an intervention by Joachim Balke, Head of Unit of Infrastructure and Regional Cooperation at DG ENER of the European Commission, who emphasised that the regulatory framework is the alpha and omega for investments. He underlined that the work currently carried out by the European Commission on grids is focusing on 2 elements, anticipatory investments, and the ‘smartness’ of grids. On anticipatory investments, he pointed out that DSOs and users must collaborate very closely to get the necessary foresight needed to ensure that anticipatory investments carry the right level of risk. On the smartness of grids and reducing the traditional CAPEX bias, he praised the report as encouraging and hopes that good practices in specific member states can be spread further.
The event was then followed by remarks from MEP Neils Fulgsang, Rapporteur on the Permitting Directive (S&D, Denmark), who highlighted the shared ambition with the European Commission to accelerate permitting procedures in support of electrification and renewable energy deployment, and the importance of balancing faster grid connections and simplified procedures with safeguards to maintain grid stability and ensuring public acceptance.
MEP Sean Kelly (EPP, Ireland) continued noting the need to have a shared vision across the Union to land the energy transition and meet the targets for grid electrification. He also argued that we need targets for grids and electrification, just like we have targets for CO2 reduction.
Finally, Veli-Pekka Saajo, Deputy Director General at the Finnish Energy Authority and Vice President at CEER, highlighted the perspective of energy regulators, stressing that balanced remuneration frameworks and long-term planning are essential to support grid investments while ensuring affordability for consumers, and that we can look at innovative ways to reduce CAPEX bias. The event concluded with a Q&A session with industry representatives and stakeholders, highlighting the timeliness and importance of the discussion.
E.DSO and GEODE would like to thank all participants for contributing to this timely discussion, with special thanks to MEP Nicolás González Casares and his staff for hosting and moderating the event.
About E.DSO:
European Distribution System Operators (E.DSO) is an association that gathers 37 leading electricity distribution system operators (DSOs), including two national associations, cooperating to ensure the reliability of Europe’s electricity supply for consumers and enabling their active participation in our energy system.
Contact:
Veronica Cardoni
Administrative and Communications Officer
veronica.cardoni@edsoforsmartgrids.eu
About GEODE:
GEODE is the premium European association representing local electricity and gas distribution networks across the continent committed to sustainable, efficient and reliable management of the backbone of the energy system – the grids. Thanks to the technical expertise of its members, GEODE’s mission is to pilot the energy transition towards decentralised, decarbonised and digitalised energy systems.
Contact:
Giulia Aluffi
Communication and Event Coordinator
galuffi@geode-eu.org
