Abstract The article reveals the concept of the energy market, the principles of its organization, the role of market participants; the experience of the formation and functioning of the energy markets of Western Europe and Ukraine was analyzed; the essence of the system of contractual relations in the wholesale electricity market was investigated; the essence of legislative regulation of the energy industry in Ukraine is revealed; the main types of abuses on the wholesale energy markets are highlighted; the main trends of market transformations in the field of energy are analyzed.