Reform of Germany’s electricity and gas sectors needs to be set in the context of its high-level energy policy objectives, the sectors’ distinctive structural evolution, and the country’s equally distinctive framework for governance developed as part of the post-war social market economy. German energy policy promotes, with equal weight, security of supply, economic efficiency, and environmental protection. The policy mix thus includes a number of sometimes conflicting goals. A programme of rapid liberalisation, well beyond the requirements of the current EU directives aimed at creating a single internal market, has been pursued to increase efficiency. On the environmental front, Germany seeks...