In its second report on the implementation of the European Union (EU) Network Code on Harmonised Transmission Tariff Structures for Gas in Lithuania, the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) recommends the Lithuanian national regulatory authority for Energy (VERT) to better substantiate that no discrimination is induced by the difference between the two tariffs applied to domestic consumers. The Agency also recommends to provide a description and a justification for the mechanisms used to compensate the discount granted to Klaipėda LNG entry, in accordance with the Network Code to improve the Lithuanian security of supply.

VERT proposes a postage stamp reference price methodology (RPM). This RPM should in theory be simple and should lead to equalised domestic and cross-border exit tariffs. VERT however applies several asset-cost splits and a complex mechanism to compensate the discount granted to Klaipėda LNG entry. These additional complexities aim at improving the cost-reflectivity of the tariffs and at limiting cross-subsidies between domestic and cross-border users. They lead to differentiated tariffs among domestic exits and among cross-border exits. The Agency recommends VERT to publish additional information and to clarify the legal base justifying these complexities.

VERT shall take a motivated decision by 17 July 2021. 

Access the report​.

Find out more and access all ACER reports on national tariff consultation documents.

The EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) launches today a public consultation on reasoned amendments to the Capacity Allocation and Congestion Management​ Regulation (CACM 2.0). This Regulation provides binding rules for the implementation and operation of an EU-wide single market coupling and capacity calculation in the day-ahead and intraday timeframes.

 All interested parties are invited to submit their input to the consultation by 10 June 2021.

The purpose of the consultation is to gather stakeholder views and inform ACER when preparing the final recommendation to the European Commission on the amendments to the CACM Regulation.​

​Two workshops will be organised by ACER on 10 May 2021 with the purpose to introduce proposed amendments and assist the stakeholders in providing feedback to the public consultation. It will also allow the Q&A with ACER and NRAs involved in the drafting of the amendments.

The first workshop 'European market coupling organisation & operation' will be held on 10 May, from 10.00 - 11.30 CET (find out more and register here) and the second one on the topics of 'capacity calculation and bidding zone review' will be held on 10 May, 15.00 – 16.30 CET (find out more and register here).​

Please note that attendance to these workshops is limited to a maximum of one seat per organisation and will be allocated on a first-com​e-first-serve basis.

A recording will be available after the events.

Access the consultation​. 

The National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) for energy from the Hansa, Core and Baltic regions asked the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) to decide on the respective region's market-based cross-border capacity allocation process.

To take an informed decision, ACER is inviting all interested parties to submit their comments by 2 May 2021.​

The Hansa region comprises of 5 countries: Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden.

The Core region includes 13 countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Croatia, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia.

The Baltic region comprehends 6 countries: Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden.

Additionally, regulators from the Core region asked ACER to decide on the regional cross-border capacity allocation process to be based on economic efficiency.

What are the benefits?

The cross-zonal capacity allocation methodologies ensure efficient, transparent, and non-discriminatory capacity allocation for the exchange of balancing capacity or sharing of reserves.

The market-based process applies in case the allocation takes place not more than a week in advance of the provision of balancing capacity, while the process based on economic efficiency applies in case the allocation takes place more than one week in advance of the provision of balancing capacity.

How does ACER contribute?

ACER Decisions will contribute to the integration of the balancing capacity markets by establishing the rules for allocating the cross-border capacity needed to facilitate the balancing capacity procurement at regional level.

Among the next steps:

​A Decision will be reached per each capacity calculation region (CCR) by:

• 27th July 2021 (Hansa CCR)
• 22nd August 2021 (Core CCR)
• 26th August 2021 (Baltic CCR)

Would you like to learn more about the topic? Read more on the ACER public workshop on 20th April.

The European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) adopted a Decision on the Amendment of the Fallback Procedures of the Core Capacity Calculation Region (CCR).

In December 2020, the National Regulatory Authorities for energy of 13 Members States​ (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia) - the Core CCR - asked ACER to decide on the amendment of the fallback procedures.

What are the fallback procedures?

In the event that the single day-ahead market coupling process is unable to produce the results of the day-ahead coupling, the fallback procedures of the Core CCR foresee the execution of shadow auctions. Current shadow auctions in the Core CCR are based on the explicit allocation of electricity in the form of Physical Transmission Rights (PTRs). The procedures for these shadow auctions and the requirements for the participation of market participants are laid down in Annex II of this Decision - Shadow Allocation Rules (SARs)​.

What are the consequences of this amendment?

With the implementation of this new amendment, there will be a change of the publication deadline of the shadow auction results from 13:50 CET to 14:00 CET on the day preceding the electricity delivery. The change of publication deadline is a result of the change in the Single Day Ahead Coupling (SDAC) operational timings in order to allow more time for the price coupling algorithm to calculate day-ahead results and thus alleviating some burden from the algorithm due to its growing performance requirements.

These changes will also increase the harmonization of the procedures among the Joint Allocation Office, Transmission System Operators (TSOs) and market participants, as well as reduce the risk of decoupling.

Access the Decision No 02-2021.

The EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) launches today a consultation on amended statutory documents of the European Network of Transmission System O​perators for Electricity (ENTSO-E)​.

ENTSO-E, having its seat in Brussels, Belgium, has amended its statutory documents (Articles of Association and Internal Rules), primarily with a view to ensure compliance with the new Belgian Code of Companies and Associations as regards transparency towards shareholders by ensuring publicity of provisions affecting members' rights.

The amended statutory documents of ENTSO-E and submitted to ACER for opinion, consist of:

• Articles of Association as amended
• Internal Rules as amended

To issue an informed opinion, ACER seeks views from the organisations representing all stakeholders, in particular system users, including consumers until 12 April.

Access the consultation.

​​​​The European Commission has extended the deadline for expressions of interest for persons interested in becoming a member or alternate of the Board of Appeal ​of the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER).​

The term of the current members and alternates will end on 18 October 2021.

ACER's Board of Appeal's new members and alternates will be selected and proposed by the European Commission.

The deadline for applications has been extended until the 25th May 2021​.

For more information, see the extended deadline for the call for expressions of interest on the European Commission's website.​

For more on the ACER Board of Appeal.

In its second report on the implementation of the EU Network Code on Harmonised Transmission Tariff Structures for Gas in Hungary, the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) recommends the Hungarian national regulatory authority for Energy (MEKH) to review the discounts applied to storage points and the benchmarking adjustment applied to the entry interconnection point from Croatia.

The application of discounts to storage points is foreseen for the purpose of avoiding double charging and to acknowledge the contribution of storages to system flexibility. The benchmarking adjustment, which is also a discount, is foreseen for the purpose of levelling the tariffs for competing pipelines. Both adjustments result in an increase of tariffs at other network points, hence a cross-subsidisation effect. The Agency recommends MEKH to better assess the impact of these adjustments.

MEKH shall take a decision by 15 June 2021. 

Access the report.

Access all ACE​R reports on national tariff consultation documents.

Update of 15.07.2021

ACER and ENTSO-E issue a joint Press Release on the Final Report on the Expert Panel invest​igation into the 8th January 2021 incident.

Press Release messages:

• Swift TSO coordination mitigated the incident and there was no major impact on consumers’ energy supply.

• Ensuring security of electricity supply at European level is essential to Europe’s energy transition.

The Expert Panel’s final report:

• provides a comprehensive analytical overview of the incident – the causes and the consequences.

• proposes 22 recommendations to prevent and mitigate the consequences of similar events in the future.

• calls for ENTSO-E/TSOs and ACER/national regulators to follow up on the implementation of these recommendations.

Update of 26.02.2021​

ACER and ENTSO-E issue a joint Press Release as the Expert Panel begins its invest​igation.

Next steps:

• ACER and national regulators join ENTSO-E's Expert Panel investigating the electricity system separation of the Continental Europe synchronous area on 8 January 2021​.​

• ​The Expert Panel will first meet on 4th March 2021.​

• ENTSO-E's Interim Report is published

• ​​The Expert Panel will identify the causes and make recommendations in a Final Report.

Update of 01.02.2021​

On 8 January 2021, the synchronous area of continental Europe's electricity system split into two separate regions resulting in transmission system outages. The re-synchronization of the two regions incident was resolved within an hour.

In accordance with the ENTSO-E's Incident Classification Scale Methodology (ICSM), the incident has been assessed as a Scale 2 (“extensive incident").

For Scale 2 incidents, a detailed report shall be prepared by an Expert Panel (EP) of Transmission System Operators (TSOs). The panel will be led by an expert from a TSO not affected by the incident. Relevant national regulatory authorities (NRAs) and ACER may be involved upon their request.

ENTSO-E provides regular updates on this topic and shares them on news section.​