• The Agency launched a full investigation, working closely with the Computer Emergency Response Team for the EU institutions, bodies and agencies (CERT-EU).
• Our ongoing cyber incident investigation confirms that the Agency’s external firewall was impacted. The problem has been remedied. Steps were taken immediately by the Agency to mitigate the potential consequences, contain the incident and recover the relevant business function.
• The affected period was from 30 December 2022 to 04 September 2023. The investigation revealed an exploited vulnerability in the firewall that possibly allowed the perpetrators, even though not confirmed, to intercept unencrypted traffic passing through the compromised device and to get access to data on it. No other devices have been found to be affected. 
• The Agency has in place security measures to protect sensitive information. Sensitive systems were already segregated. Based on our assessments to date, ACER’s REMIT information systems that hold REMIT data and LNG market data have not been impacted by this cybersecurity incident.
• The Agency is working to further improve its cybersecurity posture in the short and medium term.
• The investigation of CERT-EU led to the discovery of a compromise in the ACER extranet.
• The extranet was taken offline for immediate remediation actions.
• The Agency is assessing the likelihood of impact and the further implementation of remediation measures.
• Affected third parties have been notified of the alternative business continuity arrangements. This is an ongoing investigation. More information will be made available in due course.
• The full force of ACER is dedicated to ACER fulfilling its mandate and ensuring business continuity, in close cooperation with CERT-EU.

More specific guidance for stakeholders who interact regularly with ACER

ACER has received queries from stakeholders on the impact of the cyber incident and requests for guidance. ACER offers the following information:

REMIT/LNG data and use of Virtual Private Network (VPN):

• The Agency has secure systems for sensitive data.
• Based on the evidence to date, the data reported by market participants to the Agency, in line with their obligations under the REMIT Regulation and the LNG market data  safeguarded in ACER's REMIT information systems has NOT been impacted.
• Stakeholders should continue to use a secure channel to report their data to the Agency in line with their obligations under the REMIT Regulation and LNG data reporting obligations.
• Stakeholders (and national regulators) that have a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection with ACER for the exchange of REMIT data should continue to use their VPN. For stakeholders in the process of setting up their VPN connections to ACER, the set up of the VPN connection should continue.
• Sensitive data should not be sent over e-mail to ACER. This has already been our advice and as such it still stands.

E-mails:

• There is no need to stop e-mail communications with ACER.
• For any sensitive information that can only be communicated to ACER via an e-mail (although not recommended), please send it as a password protected zipped file attachment to the e-mail (with very long passwords; passwords are to be shared via other means than email such as SMS or MS Teams message to the intended recipient).

This is an ongoing investigation and further information will be made available in due course. We have established a dedicated e-mail channel DataSecurity@acer.europa.eu to address any concerns.

Press contact: Press@acer.europa.eu

Read more:

• Update: 26 January 2024
• Update: 15 December 2023
• Update: 4 December 2023
• Update: 27 November 2023

ACER publishes today its Opinion on the Winter Supply Outlook for 2023-2024 of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG).

ENTSOG's Outlook evaluates the European gas network's readiness to meet supply and demand requirements for the upcoming winter. It also provides an overview of summer 2024.

ENTSOG’s key findings

• Cooperation is key: the EU gas infrastructures is adequate to meet winter gas demand and the storage filling targets, if Member States cooperate and sufficient gas supply is ensured.

• Storage fillings levels: storage filling levels already reached the 90% target in August 2023, showing that the measures implemented in the Members States were effective.

• If specific circumstances of high demand materialise, Europe would still risk to face demand curtailment and low level of gas in stock at the end of the winter.

• A minimum of 46% of working gas volume should be retained at the end of winter, to meet the summer demand and achieve the 90% targets by 1 November 2024.

• Early and significant withdrawal of gas from storages will negatively affect the flexibility of the gas system and the security of supply for winter 2024–25.

• The prolonged unavailability of the Balticconector (connecting the Estonian and Finnish gas grids) does not pose a significant risk to the security of gas supply in the region.

What are ACER’s conclusions?

• Timely publication: ACER welcomes the timely publication of the Winter Supply Outlook 2023–24.

• Scope of the analysis: ACER appreciates that the analysis carried out by ENTSOG includes different scenarios, including a full disruption of Russian gas supply and different availabilities of LNG imports and storage filling levels. It also welcomes that the Outlook extends its analysis by also assessing the level of preparedness for winter 2024-25.

• Risks and supply disruptions: as the risk for a potential full disruption of the Russian gas supplies persists, an effective monitoring of European gas supplies and storage filling trajectories is key.

• Maximisation of cross-border and import capacities: recently commissioned infrastructure has added significant cross-border and import capacities. ACER invites the Transmission System Operators (TSOs) involved to coordinate, maximise their capacities and jointly manage contractual and physical congestions.

• ENTSOG’s Outlook methodology:  ACER finds that improvements are needed:

  • In the definition of demand and supply projections. 

  • To improve transparency by publishing the assumptions underlying the different demand and supply scenarios.

  • To engage with stakeholders before drafting the Outlooks and to consult on the methodology proposed.

• Cooperation between ENTSOG and ENTSO-E: ACER invites the ENTSOs to cooperate in ensuring consistent assumptions in their seasonal outlooks and to align the timing of their publication.

Read ACER’s Opinion and access ACER's other ENTSOG Outlook Opinions.

Congratulations to Clara Poletti (Commissioner at ARERA, Italy) and Rafał Gawin (President at URE, Poland) for being re-elected as Chair and Vice-Chair respectively of the ACER Board of Regulators (BoR).

We look forward to continuing working with you to advance the European energy market and achieving the decarbonisation targets. Thank you for your commitment over the past years to the work of the energy regulatory community!

About the BoR

The BoR is in charge of the regulatory policy of the Agency and plays a key role in advancing the integration of the internal energy market, as it brings together the 27 senior representatives of the National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) of Member States and non-voting representatives from EEA EFTA States, the European Commission and the EFTA Surveillance Authority.

The BoR approves the Agency’s work programme, provides opinions on its official acts and is consulted on important energy regulatory matters.

Read more on the BoR.

Today, ACER publishes its report on the French national regulatory authority’s (CRE’s) proposed gas transmission tariffs. In its report, ACER assesses the methodology proposed for calculating the tariffs applicable to the transmission networks and provides several recommendations to further justify the methodology.

What are ACER’s recommendations?

• Improve the justification provided for the proposed flow scenarios, in particular:
  • Support the proposed distance cost driver calculation with evidence. In the proposed methodology, this is based on the ‘shortest distance between entry and exit points’, instead of using the average distance between network points, which is the standard approach in the capacity weighted distance methodology.
  • Demonstrate that the application of non-economic combination of points is consistent with the possibility of sourcing gas to neighbouring markets from the French hub. The methodology proposes that certain combinations of network points cannot be considered in the calculation of the distance cost driver, as they are not competitive with alternative EU routes.
  • Provide a clearer explanation on the calculation steps and the outcome of the optimisation algorithm.

This recommendation aims at ensuring that CRE provides an appropriate justification for the assumptions and calculations proposed in the methodology.

• Increase transparency: ACER recommends that CRE assesses the impact of the proposed flow scenarios and unit cost equalisation on the distance cost driver and on tariffs respectively. CRE proposes that tariffs for the intra-system and cross-system use of the network have the same unit costs, but does not explain the degree to which tariffs are modified to achieve this objective.

• Yearly assessment on contracted capacity: ACER proposes a yearly assessment of the difference between the forecasted contracted capacity and the actual contracted capacity at the beginning of each tariff period. This is particularly relevant as the forecast is completed for a four-year period, instead of the more standard yearly period. The publication should inform stakeholders about the accuracy of the contracted capacity forecast.

Access all ACER reports on national tariff consultation documents.

On 30 November 2023, Transmission System Operators (TSOs) submitted to ACER their proposal for amending the definition of two European Capacity Calculation Regions (CCR).

What are the capacity calculation regions and why are they important?

CCRs define the geographic areas (i.e. by listing bidding zone borders) across the EU where TSOs coordinate the capacity calculation and other processes (i.e. subject to regional methodologies).

Currently, there are eight CCRs in Europe: Nordic, Hansa, Core, Italy North, Greece-Italy (GRIT), South-West Europe (SWE), Baltic and South-East Europe (SEE).

Having an efficient definition of CCRs benefits European consumers and producers:

• It allows TSOs to run regional processes related to capacity calculation, re-dispatch and countertrading more effectively.
• It optimises the provision of cross-zonal capacity, allows for more cross-zonal trade and ensures security of supply.

What is the proposed amendment about?

The TSOs are proposing to:

• merge the Core and Italy North CCRs to improve coordination and efficiency of capacity calculation and allocation processes in central Europe;
• include the Celtic interconnector (Ireland-France) to this newly merged region to facilitate Ireland’s further integration into the European electricity market.

Next steps

ACER will assess whether the TSOs’ proposals contribute to market integration, non-discrimination, effective competition, and the proper functioning of the EU electricity market.

To take an informed decision, ACER opened a public consultation and is inviting its stakeholders to submit their views by Wednesday, 10 January 2024.

ACER has six months to decide on the TSOs’ proposal. However, ACER is committed to reach a decision in three months, given the impact this might have on the electricity market.

Update of 21 March 2024: The Decision No 04/2024 and its Annexes have been uploaded here. 

• The Agency (ACER) takes this cybersecurity incident very seriously. The full investigation launched by the Agency, in close collaboration with the Computer Emergency Response Team for the EU institutions, bodies and agencies (CERT-EU), is still ongoing.
• Safeguarding the personal and sensitive information entrusted to us is of paramount importance.
• Based on the assessments to date, there is no evidence that ACER’s REMIT Information Systems have been impacted by this cybersecurity incident.
• We are working diligently to ensure a comprehensive investigation and mitigate the potential consequences of this incident.
• This is an ongoing investigation and further measures will be taken as appropriate.

Further information will be made available in due course. We have established a dedicated e-mail channel DataSecurity@acer.europa.eu to address any concerns.

Press contact: Press@acer.europa.eu

Read more:

• Update: 26 January 2024
• Update: 15 December 2023
• Update: 4 December 2023
• Update: 27 November 2023

On 24 November 2023, ACER received a proposal from all Nominated Electricity Market Operators (NEMOs) for amending the methodology for the price coupling algorithm and the continuous trading matching algorithm.

What is the methodology about?

The methodology sets the regulatory framework for the algorithms used for matching orders and allocating cross-zonal capacities in the European day-ahead and intraday electricity markets. The European day-ahead electricity market is based on an implicit auction, whereas the intraday market currently relies only on continuous trading. However, intraday auctions are expected to be introduced in 2024.

Thanks to a coordinated calculation of prices and flows, which is referred to as market coupling, available cross-zonal capacity is used more efficiently and price differences are reduced.

The current methodology was approved by ACER in July 2018 and amended in January 2020.

Why amend the methodology?

Amending the methodology, in particular the day-ahead coupling algorithm, is needed to enable a co-optimised allocation of cross-zonal capacity for the exchange of balancing capacity or sharing of reserves. Co-optimisation facilitates the integration of the balancing capacity markets and allows for a more efficient use of cross-zonal capacity.

Additionally, NEMOs proposed changes to the monitoring of scalable complex orders (which are a specific type of orders from market participants) and to the timings and delivery of results of intraday auctions.

What are the next steps?

ACER will run a public consultation and host a public workshop to collect views from stakeholders in the decision-making process.

• The public consultation will run from 18 January to 20 February 2024.

• The public workshop is planned for 1 February 2024.

Update as of 13 February: the public consultation's original deadline of 15 February has been extended to 20 February. 

ACER initially planned to decide on the matter by 24 May 2024, but will now decide by early autumn 2024 to incorporate stakeholders' views on the findings of the consultancy study.

Access the public notice initiating the procedure.

ACER has been the subject of a cyberattack. The Agency remains fully functional.

A full investigation was launched. We are working closely with the European Union’s Computer Emergency Response Team for the EU institutions, bodies and agencies (CERT-EU). Steps were taken to mitigate the consequences of the attack. This is an ongoing investigation and further measures will be taken as appropriate.

Further information will be made available in due course. We have established a dedicated e-mail channel DataSecurity@acer.europa.eu to address any concerns.

Press contact: Press@acer.europa.eu

Read more:

• Update: 26 January 2024
• Update: 15 December 2023
• Update: 4 December 2023
• Update: 27 November 2023