Dear Reader,
I am pleased to provide this overview of the activities of the Estonian Competition Authority in 2024. This year, we have taken a slightly different approach, which is also reflected in the structure of this annual report.
The Competition Authority is an expert organisation that brings together two essential elements of a market economy – the free market and related supervision, as well as the regulated market and its supervision. In 2023, we worked out our strategy and defined strategic objectives for the period 2024–2027. These are: (i) the systematic redesign of supervisory processes and the strengthening of supervisory capacity, and (ii) the use of our expertise and legal mandate to support the development of Estonian society through market analysis, stakeholder training and guidance, and public awareness. All our activities in 2024 have been carried out with these strategic goals in mind.
The second chapter of the report outlines the Authority’s priorities for 2025. While these do not limit our broader focus, we hope they provide market participants with clarity on the areas that will certainly receive our attention. Transparency is one of the core values of the Competition Authority. The third chapter gives an overview of the Authority’s budget and organisational structure.
As the annual report shows, in 2024 we concentrated particularly on fair pricing, market transparency, and efficiency. The Competition Division focused on sectors that attracted significant public attention – notably healthcare, waste management, and retail. Key efforts were made to detect practices that distort competition. An essential part of competition enforcement is merger control, which remains a cornerstone of effective competition supervision. For the first time, the report also presents the results of the Economic and Data Analysis Unit, which contributes valuable input to our competition enforcement activities.
The Regulatory Division's work was centered on developments in the electricity and gas markets, as well as Estonia’s synchronisation with the continental European electricity grid. We monitored whether the drop in input prices in the energy markets was being passed on to consumers, and whether regulated tariffs remained justified. A key milestone was the launch of a heat procurement process in Narva, aimed at improving supply security and reducing price pressure.
Measuring the consumer benefit generated by our activities is also a priority. Our work must ultimately bring value to society. While we are still in the early stages of developing a methodology for this, initial calculations show that our impact on consumer benefit is significant. And that is encouraging.
We have continued to invest in automation and new tools. While the Price Calculation Information System (HAI) still requires ongoing development, it is already enabling the processing of short-form applications across nearly all regulated sectors. Technology has also started to play a bigger role in competition enforcement, where we are focusing on how data and data analytics can enhance supervision. The use of artificial intelligence is also under consideration. These are exciting times.
While the length of this annual report imposes certain limitations, we have compiled the most important developments, achievements, and challenges of the past year into the following pages.
The Estonian Competition Authority remains committed to ensuring fair competition, protecting consumers, and supporting efficiently functioning markets in the public interest.
Happy reading!
Evelin Pärn-Lee
Director General