The EU Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council met in Brussels Feb. 15, and the chief item on the agenda was the "unbundling" of power networks.

The idea is that in order to promote competitive practices in the power industry and reduce energy prices, energy companies that were formerly government monopolies should surrender control of their transmission networks. This would open the door to outside firms who could supply power from nontraditional sources (wind, biomass, solar, etc.), or to nontraditional locations (across borders to other EU countries).

But, as is often the case in EU affairs, the 27 ministers could not agree and the proposal was shelved. Instead, they passed responsibility for the matter to the European Commission, which must provide more information on the benefits of such a move at another meeting in March.