To ensure that gas can be traded independently of its location within a market area, network users must be free to book entry and exit capacity independently from each other. The Agency analyses the current restrictions in capacity products and publishes a dedicated Report. ​​

What is a conditional capacity contract?
 

The entry-exit system is a market access model that allows network users to book capacity rights independently at any entry and any exit point of the transmission network. Conditionalities exist when a network user is not allowed to book entry and exit capacities independently from one another, or faces restrictions on freely flowing gas from any entry to any exit point of a market area or zone. They also exist when network users can choose not to use the free and fully allocable firm capacity and commit to a more restrictive contract. In such cases, network users are incentivised to limit their capacity rights by discounts. The current EU legislation recognises firm and interruptible capacity products, while it does not explicitly regulate conditional capacities.​​

​In 2019, the use of conditional products and legacy contracts with contractual limitations occurred in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Great Britain. The underlying Study provides a full review of these cases. ​​

ACER recommends the national regulatory authorities and the transmission system operators to:

• Create an EU-wide catalogue of conditional products with product and pricing descriptions;

• Harmonise the discounts of conditional products;

• Study the cross-border effects of conditional products and their tariffs to limit cross-subsidies between transit and domestic users;

• Provide higher transparency about the traded volumes and capacity tariffs of conditional products on the ENTSOG Transparency Platform;

• Perform a cost-benefit analysis for zone mergers potentially creating or increasing the use of conditional products and assess on a case-by-case basis whether conditional capacity products are favourable;

• Terminate transit contracts that do not follow the entry-exit model.

The Agency also recommends to further clarify the definition of the entry-exit model in the EU legislation. ​​​

The Gas Day establishes the trading window for exchanging day-ahead and daily gas products on the EU trading platforms. The Gas Day has a harmonised start and end from 5.00 to 5.00 UTC the following day for winter time, and from 4.00 to 4.00 UTC the following day when daylight saving is applied. The harmonised Gas Day promotes cross-border trading and underpins capacity bundling.​

The proposal aimed to derogate the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland from the obligation of adopting the common timeframes of the Gas Day, based on the UK’s upstream industry proposal. ​

ACER did not take the amendment forward because of a lack of justification, market support and of elements showing the benefits of the proposal. ​​​

​​​​​Gas balancing rules (BAL NC) ensure that injections into and withdrawals from the transmission network are managed efficiently by network users. Network users cause imbalances by injecting less or more gas at entry points than what they withdraw at exit points. The accumulation of individual imbalances affects the system as a whole. The harmonised balancing rules make network users responsible for balancing their portfolios, for which they can use a set of standardised short term products – daily or within-day ones. The transmission system operator has a residual responsibility for physical balancing to keep the system within its safe operating limits.

Network users balance their portfolio via the market, where trading platforms and exchanges enable them to sell and buy-products during the Gas Day​​​​. The transmission system operator (TSO) acts on the same platform as the users and its costs for residual balancing interventions are recovered from the imbalanced network users. The TSOs cannot earn or lose revenue due to their balancing activity and shall report their activity transparently.​

The Code has been implemented along three distinct deadlines, which the legislation offered depending on the preparedness of the Member States.

• Countries with more experience with short-term markets or balancing opted for full implementation by October 2015.

• Those who opted for temporary measures, due to information model upgrades, had to finalise implementation by October 2016.

• Countries opting for interim measures were supposed to finish implementation by April 2019.

The Agency's reports showed a high implementation rate in North-West Europe. The least advanced implementation occurred in South-East and East Europe.

The implementation relies on three enablers: information provision, network flexibility, and commercial flexibility. Only when these factors reach a sufficient degree of maturity, network users and transmission system operators are enabled to properly play their roles assigned by the Code. Trading platforms (or balancing platforms in case of interim measures) are important instruments providing opportunities to network users to trade short term standardised products. ​

ACER found the interim measures have not been terminated in time as required by the Code. The Agency recommends that Member States facing implementation delays close their implementation gaps and start an active communication towards the Agency and the European Commission. The Agency will recommend the start of infringement procedures with the European Commission for those Member States lagging significantly behind.​​

​​​​​ACER is responsible for ensuring the effective functioning of the internal gas market and therefore for filling regulatory gaps between the national and the European level. ACER strongly supports the cooperation of national regulatory authorities. If mutual cooperation faces a deadlock in well-defined cases, the Agency can take cross-border actions by using its residual decision-making power.

The Agency can also make recommendations to assist regulatory authorities and market players in sharing good practices and to provide opinions supporting greater compliance with the Guidelines and Network Codes. The Agency works transparently by consulting interested parties throughout its processes and providing opportunities to collect comments and feedback.

ACER has decided on a limited number of cross-border issues, as well as provided opinions for cross-border matters and advised regulators on specific rules in relation to the Guidelines and Network Codes. 

Agency decision for the selection of single capacity booking platform at 'MALLNOW IP' and 'GCP VIP

​On 6 August 2019, the Agency published its Decision for the selection of the gas capacity booking platform to be used at the 'Mallnow' interconnection point and the 'GCP' virtual interconnection point between Germany and Poland. The Decision establishes the RBP platform to provide services until the concerned transmission system operators agree on the permanent use of a booking platform. This Decision was taken after having consulted relevant stakeholders and technical experts. The Agency​​​​​ received offers from three operational gas booking platforms in response to its Open​​​ Call​, which were evaluated based on legal, IT and financial requirements. Based on these elements, ACER concluded that RBP submitted overall the most advantageous offer. 

These provisions apply for a maximum of three years.

​Transport contracts for the offer of bundled capacity products are widely used in the European Union. The CAM NC has introduced several changes that harmonised the capacity contracts across the European Union. The ENTSOG template on General Terms and Conditions in standard capacity contracts collects these elements in a single document.

Having a template that is widely used across the European Union can increase the value and usefulness of bundled capacity products, as well as making the administration of contracts easier for the network users.​

​​ACER believes the ENTSOG Template did not always go as far as would have be​en desirable. The Agency recommended the template should be turned into a ready-to-use contract, increasing its impact across the European Union.​

The Network Code on Capacity Allocation Mechanisms (CAM NC) harmonises how network users can use the gas transmission network to enter or exit a market, and how these capacity rights can be obtained. Different forms of standard capacity products exist: there are long-term (monthly, quarterly and yearly) and short-term (day and within-day) capacity contracts. The use of the transmission network can be unrestricted (firm capacity) or with restrictions (interruptible and conditional capacity products).

To facilitate moving gas across markets, transmission system operators allow the exit from one market area with the right to enter a neighbouring market area at the interconnection points. Virtual trading points in each market place facilitate the exchange of capacity rights, so that network users can easily transfer them.

A harmonised EU-wide auction scheme supports network users to buy capacity on capacity booking platforms. In addition to harmonising rules for existing capacity, the CAM NC provides a harmonised process to build incremental-capacity.

The Guidelines on Congestion Management Procedures (CMP GL) harmonise the approaches to identify and deal with contractual congestion. The presence of contractual congestion implies that some network users cannot get the capacity product of their choice and must rely on mitigating measures to access the market. Such measures are necessary to improve the efficient network usage and the overall market efficiency, and to avoid investment in physical capacity when contracted capacity remains unused. Congestion management​ is strongly connected to capacity allocation, both dealing with network access rights.

​ACER monitors the effective implementation of the Interoperability and Data Exchange Network Code and shares its findings in a dedicated report. The Report focuses on interconnection agreements, gas quality and odourisation as well as data exchange.​

The Report evaluates the key features of the national implementation and compared them in a structured assessment. The Agency found different national approaches to interoperability and data exchange and provided conclusions with a view to strengthen the application of this code. 

The Report assesses 19 Member States: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Denmark, Greece, Spain, France Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia and United Kingdom. ​

Hydrogen (H2) can be an “energy vector" - a fuel or an energy carrier and used for storage.​​​

Low-carbon gases, such as biogas, bio methane, or hydrogen produced via electrolysis by using renewable-generated electricity (from wind, solar, etc.), are important contributors for transitioning towards a less fossil fuel dependent and, ultimately, carbon-neutral energy sector.

As hydrogen does not pollute the air when used, it is considered a vital part of the solution to meet the 2050 climate neutrality goal of the European Green Deal.

The ​​Council of the European Union noted that by 2050 “green gases" – mainly H2 and bio methane – could represent 30% to 70% of total gas use. 

For example, hydrogen can help to decarbonise “hard to abate” economic sectors (e.g. heavy transport or energy-intensive industry) where reducing carbon emissions is both needed urgently and hard to achieve. Today, the amount of hydrogen used in the EU remains limited, and it is largely produced from fossil fuels. This is set to change as envisaged in the EU’s Hydrogen Strategy.

Currently, there is little hydrogen infrastructure development. Furthermore, what exists is not covered by the existing EU gas regulatory framework. ​Existing gas networks could contribute to this energy transition by adapting or repurposing to handle bio methane, admixtures of hydrogen and natural gas, or pure hydrogen. ​

Europe’s energy transition requires major public and private sector investment. The European Commission took an important first step in the proposed revision of the TEN-E Regulation by including hydrogen transmission infrastructure (new and repurposed), storage and cross-border electrolyser facilities within its scope - a step very much welcomed by ACER-CEER. 

To realise the European Green Deal’s ambitions for hydrogen, the right regulatory framework must be created to facilitate a hydrogen economy in a cost-effective way. 

​​​See below the ACER-CEER Regulatory White Paper on “When and How to Regulate Hydrogen Networks?”. Furthermore, ACER has surveyed the national regulatory authorities (NRAs) to determine whether and to what extent the national gas networks can be repurposed to transport bio-methane and hydrogen blends, and has commissioned a number of background papers (see below).​

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The Network Code Implementation and Monitoring Group (NC IMG) was a forum for high level strategic coordination between the European Commission, the European Union Agen​cy for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E), and the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG).    

The NC IMG used to oversee the implementation and implementation monitoring of electricity ne​twork codes and gas network codes in the EU. Network codes and guidelines are rules to harmonise technical, operational and market rules governing the EU's electricity grids and gas networks, making an integrated EU internal energy market possible.    ​​​​​

The NC IMG is no longer operational and its work has been discontinued in 2020.

​The Gas Networ​k Codes Functionality Platform (FUNC) is managed by ACER and ENTSOG with the support of the European Commission. The platform allows stakeholders to report cross-border, regional and European issues related to the implementation of gas network codes and guidelines. This cooperation facilitates ACER and ENTSOG to find solutions to the cross-border, regional and European issues identified.    

ACER and ENTSO-E co-organise three European Stakeholder Committ​ees (ESCs), one for each family of electricity codes (market codes, operational codes, and connection codes). 

They complement, rather than replacing, the​ legal obligations to consult and inform stakeholders during the implementation of electricity network codes. ​​​​​​

Stakeholders' database tracking all queries about electricity network codes​