EU Action Plan for Affordable Energy!
A plan to micromanage energy consumption
A friend sent me this Euronews article about the European Union’s (EU) new Action Plan for Affordable Energy. This is a great opportunity to examine the Action Plan and relate it to the “Is Energy the Achilles Heel of AI” or “Powering the Technology Revolution” session at this year’s World Economic Forum meeting in Davos.
EU documents are always fun to examine because they usually contain contradictions, half-truths, and word and phrase usages that are undefined and vague. Here’s one example: Apparently, even though “energy poverty affects more than 46 million Europeans” (that’s about 10% of the population) European energy prices are lower than ever because of wind and solar! If prices are lower, why is there still such significant energy poverty? Now, it’s true that in the first half of 2024 electricity prices averaged across the EU started to come down from the record high of 2022, but they are still almost double the prices at the beginning of 2021.
I like this part from the Euronews article: “Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said in a recent statement:
"We’re driving energy prices down and competitiveness up. We have already significantly reduced energy prices in Europe by doubling down on renewables. Now, we are going a step further with the Affordable Energy Action Plan as part of our Clean Industrial Deal."”
Oh, great. Another “Deal” like the Green Deal. These deals don’t seem to actually make life more affordable and better for EU citizens. Although the Action Plan covers natural gas supply and price to some extent, what President von der Leyen is really talking about is electricity rather than “energy” as a whole since she mentions wind and solar in the context of lowering prices.
Interestingly, the statistics don’t support her statement.
Note that the household price average shows a large difference between EU countries that use coal, nuclear, and gas vs those that have focused on wind and solar. For example, as shown in the chart above, according to Statista, using 2023 data, Hungary’s electricity price was 9.68 Eurocents/kwh (50% of their electricity is from nuclear, 38% coal & gas) and Bulgaria which relies mostly on coal and nuclear was around 11 Eurocents/kwh, whereas Germany, which has “doubled down on renewables” (and closed down its nuclear), was the highest at 44.97 Eurocents/kwh and Denmark which has a small population and a whole lot of windmills was at 39.44 Eurocents/kwh!1
Here’s where vocabulary and phrases enter the conversation. The EU Action Plan estimates a 25% savings with “smart grid infrastructure and energy system flexibility.” What does that mean? It means “digitalization”, which means smart meters (and wifi connected appliances) everywhere in order to “shift consumption to times of lower prices” and AI installed to micromanage grid flows. The report takes a scolding tone on smart meters,
In 10 Member States, fewer than 30% households have access to smart metering systems (providing real-time information about energy consumption). Roll-out needs to be accelerated. (15)
According to the EU, AI is going to make everything more efficient to optimize the grid and of course help consumers be more “flexible” in their demand choices:
Digitalisation is another source of savings for consumers, but also a potential vulnerability. The Commission will adopt a Strategic Roadmap for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the Energy Sector in 2026 to accelerate the rollout of European AI solutions in areas such as electricity grid optimisation, energy efficiency in buildings and industry, and demand-side flexibility.
The use of AI to make the grid more “efficient” and the energy system more “flexible” was touted by Greg Jackson, CEO of Octopus Energy in the UK, on the WEF panel in January 2025.2 He too made the argument that with smart meters there could be “real-time metering and real-time monitoring” so that the grid will know precisely how much electricity is being used at any given time and adjust the flows accordingly.3 Jackson argued that if they only had that real-time data from every household, company, and industry then grids could be built to manage consumption rather than built around the estimated 1 to 2 hours of peak demand. (Never mind that in the UK the smart meters are notoriously wrong and overcharge people.) This is rather dangerous thinking on a few levels, aside from the very real possibility of moral scolds questioning a household’s overall energy use, the real danger lies in the concept of not planning for those hours of peak demand because without it, the grid could be forced towards brownouts, blackouts, and even more demand response load control.
Here’s more vocabulary to define. What exactly is “demand response and load control”? According to the Action Plan
storage and demand response, helps manage demand and supply imbalances by encouraging customers to shift electricity consumption to times when electricity is more plentiful or demand is lower, and therefore when electricity is cheaper.
One could argue that load control and demand response are euphemisms for rationing. Since a grid with too much wind and solar and not enough reliable baseload power will be inherently unreliable, there will be insufficient power at peak times unless the public reduces consumption. Never fear! The EU has a solution: It will encourage demand response through rule making, of course. The Action Plan states that by the first quarter of 2026 the EU and its member nations will
adopt new rules on demand response to make sure consumers can take full financial advantage of flexibility. These rules will address the remaining barriers that hamper demand response and storage services in the internal electricity market.
What would this mean in practice? Well, that would likely be through the new buzz phrase – dynamic pricing. What is dynamic pricing? Dynamic pricing is paying more not only during peak times and less during off-peak, but also paying more when there’s not enough supply – like when there’s a Dunkelflaute (a long period of calm or low wind and little sun) and less when there’s oversupply. This likely means that the prices people pay will be beholden to the weather. But don’t worry, the EU assures its citizens that this isn’t a socialist technocratic top-down forcing of behaviour change because, according to the Action Plan, the promotion of “demand response” will be “market-based”:
Demand flexibility should also be promoted on the retail market as a deal offering lower prices for voluntary industries and consumers willing to participate in energy system integration.
This is basically what they tried in the UK where people were offered financial incentives to stop using electricity during peak times. The first time it was used in 2022-2023 there was quite a bit of uptake – 1.6 million users. However, it didn’t go as well the second time they tried it – around 1 million users signed up; previous users complained that even with turning all appliances and lights off and lighting candles instead, the savings were paltry and not worth it. I guess the novelty wore off of eating a cold dinner by candlelight with the heat turned off.4 To be fair, apparently Denmark has convinced about 70% of its citizens to voluntarily participate in its version of demand response load control.
Related to a form of demand response and load control, Jackson gave the example in the UK of testing the use of AI to manage EV charging throughout the day in order to “free up” energy for industries that require steady baseload power. This point was made in the Action Plan which proposes using EVs as electricity storage – “new electromobility fleets can play a role in providing flexibility services.” (15) It’s unclear what happens when a person goes to use their EV which they thought was charging all day whilst at work and it’s only half charged because it had been used to stabilize the grid.
To sum up, the EU’s Action Plan for Affordable Energy raises significant concerns about practicality and unintended consequences. The reliance on wind and solar, smart grids, and AI-driven demand response is being touted as the way to efficiency and lower costs, but the reality—evident in higher electricity prices in countries like Germany and Denmark, and the questionable effectiveness of UK demand-side experiments—suggests a disconnect between policy rhetoric and lived experience. Vague terms like “flexibility” and “dynamic pricing” to many people sound rather appealing. The very real risk, however, is that it turns into rationing and weather-dependent costs for consumers. I am not very confident that the EU, as it pushes forward with digitalization and AI to manage this energy transition, will address these contradictions and ensure that affordability and reliability aren’t sacrificed for the sake of ideological “deals,” especially as energy demands from technologies like AI itself continue to grow.
Data sources and the year of the data matters. Eurostat uses numbers from the first quarter of 2024 which reorder some of the countries but the overall argument, that countries that “doubled down on renewables” and made other poor choices of shutting down nuclear power plants and/or coal experienced higher prices, remains supported. https://www.statista.com/statistics/418049/electricity-prices-for-households-in-eu-28/; https://www.statista.com/statistics/1046422/electricity-household-price-european-union-country/
Octopus Energy is the second largest energy supplier in the UK but has operations around the globe. It is not only an energy supplier but also owns wind projects, EV leasing, and its Kraken software for grid management. Its main investors are Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Fund. https://octopusenergy.group/
– from 17:25 to 18:48.
Interestingly, the UK government recently concluded a consultation on the future of demand response and “consumer led flexibility” and will be making an announcement of a formal policy this spring. https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/capacity-market-consumer-led-flexibility/capacity-market-consumer-led-flexibility-html
Digging into the "smart meter" revolution to change the way electricity is delivered, sounds so streamlined, with a system that will bring accuracy to your meter readings, cost effective monitoring, and such excellent delivery to the customer at lower rates, who would deny the opportunity? Well, then you do the research. Looking here and there, and hmmmm, wait a second! What does that electromagnetic field mean? What health issues were discovered? Gee, 90,000 people in a part of Denver had their electricity go out, without any notice, until Xcel Energy notified the customers "oh, during high periods of demand, Xcel locks out its customers and your power is turned off". Didn't you read the fine print?
So, it's another scam, but this one is invasive and controlling of your electricity and if Xcel, and other companies like Xcel that have extensive purchase agreements for wind and solar (which are increasing all over the country), the electric company will determine if they are having an emergency event (i.e. - lack of baseload). Then without warning it's lights out, and the rest of your electric appliances (which were mandated by the way), along with your EV (if you decide to buy one), are down and out.
So, the blizzard of lies of the "clean energy transition", is sweeping the US, and like the EU and UK will be costing consumers big bucks to receive unreliable electricity, and a lot of headaches, frustration and in some cases, involuntary stuck at home with no TV, no phone, no computer, either hot as all hell, or cold as the Arctic. A disaster! And coming to all who like it or not the wind and solar will be transmitted on lovely 150' tall Ultra High Transmission lines, running in pairs for AC/DC current and have a radius of 500' around the lines due to that "once again" electromagnetic field.
So, as I continue read the information by Tammy, I will be following the Green Deal created by the European Commission and its experts, that know zero about energy by the by, to watch the green growth of the industrial sector, as countries watch its deindustrialization and believe in the religion of wind and solar buildup to relieve and deter further deindustrialization. Of course, anyone with a few brain cells know the problem will get worse as unreliable, and skyrocketing costs of the clean dream most certainly will be in for the awakening in the not too distant future. And as we watch the graph by Tammy show increasing Kwh costs by country, will then force us to turn out the lights, like it or not, to be able to afford to buy a roll of toilet paper.
I'll include this post in my rant about the "action plan". Thanks, Tammy.