On Tuesday, the Council of Ministers discusses the draft bill aimed at reestablishing the National Energy Commission (CNE). This marks the legal beginning of separating the energy regulator from the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC). Teresa Ribera, the third Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Ecological Transition, announced in a post-meeting press conference that the CNE would be “brought back with updated functions, strengthened resources, and a new capacity through a dedicated fund for liquidating the regulated activities of the electricity and gas sectors.”
The draft law will be published the same day on the Ministry for Ecological Transition’s website to gather sector input before final approval by the Council of Ministers and the subsequent parliamentary process as an urgent matter. The establishment of the new regulator would mean a return to the previous arrangement in which the CNE existed until 2013, when the then-governing party united the CNE with other specialized regulators and the Competition Commission to form the CNMC, with the aim of boosting efficiency and giving the regulator stronger leverage over the companies it oversees.
Since that time, and despite CNMC’s decade-long existence, the topic of segregating the energy function has remained a point of contention among various governments. The last significant debate occurred in 2017 during a pact between the Ciudadanos party and the Partido Popular, then led by Mariano Rajoy, which ultimately did not reach fruition. The current government under Pedro Sánchez supports separating the energy oversight as part of its coalition agreement with Sumar, arguing that the subject requires a more specialized regulatory and supervisory framework than what the CNMC can provide.
The objective of the new independent body is to monitor energy markets to ensure competitive prices for consumers and clear signals for investment. The plan includes introducing a new objective focused on decarbonization, with Ribera explaining that this emphasis means regulatory decisions will weigh decarbonization more heavily. In addition to regulatory duties, the new CNE would carry advisory and dispute-resolution functions similar to those carried out by the CNMC, as well as inspection duties, such as addressing consumer complaints.
Amid the ongoing energy transition, which brings new technologies and energy vectors, the new agency would also handle emerging concepts like renewable gases and hydrogen. Until there is ad-hoc regulation, the CNMC could only offer opinions as a gas regulator, and did not possess dedicated powers over these vectors.
The government plans to create a specific fund designed to manage the liquidation of the energy sector’s regulated activities. This fund would respond to a request from the State Audit Office to improve transparency around the financial flows linked to these regulated activities visible on consumer bills.
As the plan evolves, officials emphasize a shift from broad, large-scale regulation to more detailed, granular oversight. The aim is to have thousands of regulators and agents ensuring market functionality. Joan Groizard, director general of the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE), described this shift in an interview with El Periódico de Cataluña, highlighting that energy demands a higher level of detailed supervision than what exists today.
Nevertheless, it remains possible that Parliament could propose further divisions or even reintroduce sector-specific regulators as the reform moves through legislative stages. During a digital transformation commission, Minister José Luis Escrivá left the door open to considering a proposal by Pilar Calvo of Junts to fold telecommunications and audiovisual sectors into the energy reform, citing concerns about the CNMC’s capacity to supervise the expanding regulatory landscape. This possibility was noted in contemporaneous coverage by Europa Press.
In summary, the government envisions a streamlined, field-focused regulator capable of supervising the energy market with enhanced clarity and accountability. The debate over how deep the separation should go—whether to maintain a lean, unified CNMC or to carve out more specialized bodies—will shape the next steps in Spain’s regulatory architecture regarding energy, telecommunications, and related sectors. The road ahead will test political consensus and the ability to translate regulatory intent into concrete, transparent actions that benefit consumers and investors alike.