The EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) has reached a decision on alternative electricity bidding zone configurations. Transmission System Operators (TSOs) have 12 months to conduct the bidding zone review and to recommend whether to keep or amend the existing bidding zones.

What are bidding zones and why are their alternative configurations relevant?

A bidding zone is the largest geographical area within which market participants are able to exchange energy without capacity allocation. Currently, bidding zones in Europe are mostly defined by national borders. However, the existing European electricity target model requires defining bidding zones based on network congestions. Hence, alternative bidding zone configurations based on this principle need to be examined.

What are the Decision’s main highlights?

ACER’s Decision is based on stakeholder input (via a stakeholder consultation in 2021), as well as on the extensive information provided by TSOs. This information included alternative configurations previously submitted to ACER, the outcome of locational marginal pricing simulations (in accordance with the bidding zone review methodology approved in November 2020) and additional feedback received by TSOs.

In its Decision, ACER proposes alternative bidding zone configurations for five Member States.

• In Continental Europe, alternative configurations are proposed for Germany (4 alternatives), France (1), Italy (1) and the Netherlands (1).
• In the Nordic area, 4 alternative configurations are proposed for Sweden.

What’s next?

Following ACER’s Decision, TSOs have 12 months to conduct the bidding zone review and provide a recommendation on whether to keep or amend the existing bidding zones. Member States will then decide whether or not to change the bidding zones accordingly.

What are the benefits?

Better defined bidding zone configurations (i.e. whose borders are based on long-term, structural congestions) can bring several benefits including:

• increased opportunities for cross-zonal trade,
• more efficient network investments, and
• cost-efficient integration of new technologies.

Read more on the ACER's Decision 11-2022. 

The EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) publishes today its sixth report on the gas balancing network code implementation.

ACER monitors and reports on the effective implementation of the gas balancing network code​ since 2016. The reports review the country assessments for each Member State, or a large sub-set of balancing zones, focusing on key features of the balancing design.

This year’s report focuses on seven balancing zones that kept transitory or interim measures or showed partial implementation of the network code in 2020.  

In particular, the analysis focuses on zones that:

• did not terminate the interim measures by April 2019 (Bulgaria, Greece, Ireland and Slovakia) or that kept transitory measures (Portugal) after the 2016 deadline; and

• only partially implemented the code’s provisions (Finland and Romania).

What are the main findings?

The report finds that:

• Member States have terminated all interim or transitory measures by June 2022. The only exception is Slovakia which still has interim measures.

• Bulgaria, Finland, and Greece have progressed to a high implementation level. Ireland has improved its implementation level, which was already high.

• Portugal, Romania, and Slovakia have still only partially implemented the code – whilst Portugal has made some progress, Romania and Slovakia have not.

What are ACER’s recommendations?

ACER welcomes the termination of the interim and transitory measures and the progress across Europe.

ACER recommends that the relevant stakeholders:

• increase their transparency on information provision (beyond the minimum requirements); and

• explore possible efficiency gains (e.g. via balancing zone mergers) to overcome the persisting structural market limitations that do not allow the code’s full implementation.

Would you like to find out more? Access the Report.

Gas Balancing Dashboard

Check out ACER’s new Gas Balancing Dashboard. It presents the main monitoring trends visually and allows a comparison between national balancing regimes.

Find out more on how to interact with the Dashboard.

Access the Dashboard via direct link or through AEGIS webpage.

The EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) publishes today the minutes of the latest Roundtable meetings on REMIT data reporting and transparency of wholesale energy markets.

The Roundtable meetings were held from 13 to 16 June 2022, with representatives from Organised Market Places (OMPs), Registered Reporting Mechanisms (RRMs), Inside Information Platforms (IIPs) and Associations of Energy Market Participants (AEMPs).

What are the REMIT Roundtable meetings?

The Roundtable meetings allow ACER and stakeholders to discuss the state of play of data collection under the REMIT regulation and consult on any outstanding issues at least on a yearly basis.

The recent meetings were an opportunity for ACER to share the latest updates on REMIT data collection, as well as to discuss the ongoing consultation on the updated versions of the transaction reporting guidance (TRUM) and the electronic schemas.

The Roundtables’ conclusions also reflect the latest findings on data quality analysis, which focused on the transactions concluded on the brokers’ platforms and the related reporting guidance, as well as the present and future challenges, and next steps to be taken.

To learn more, access the Roundtable's meetings with:

• AEMPs

• OMPs

• IIPs

• RRMs.

The new REMIT Documents section went live

During the meetings, ACER also announced the recent go-live of the new REMIT Documents section on its website. The aim of this section is to provide an easy and centralised access to the main REMIT documents on ACER’s website. As such, it replaces the previous document repository on the REMIT Portal.

Take a look at the new REMIT Documents section.

• Energy regulators see the need to adopt gas demand-adjustment measures now to avoid higher costs later
• Regulators support a well-defined crisis response process

Europe’s energy regulators represented by the EU Agency, ACER, and the national regulators’ association, CEER, welcome the European Commission’s “Save Gas for a Safe Winter” Plan.  Reducing gas consumption now will go a long way to avoiding low levels of reserves, potential disruptions and more economically costly sudden measures in the winter. Europe’s energy regulators agree that regulations regarding security of supply should be re-evaluated in terms of their effectiveness in “addressing a longer-term supply disruption from a major supplier affecting several routes at the same time”.

Regarding the voluntary 15% demand reduction efforts in the next eight months, Europe’s energy regulators note the importance (as mentioned in the draft Regulation) that measures not unduly distort competition or the proper functioning of the internal market in gas, or endanger the security of gas supply of other Member States or of the Union and that they be market-based.

The regulators stress the need for market-based mechanisms such as auction or tender systems to incentivise energy reduction by industry, as ACER and CEER recommended in their Gas Wholesale Market Monitoring report published last week.

The plan’s proposal for a clearer mapping of governance in response to a gas supply crisis is important and ACER and national regulators, as a member and observers (respectively) of the EU Gas Coordination Group, appreciate that the role of the Group is further defined in the three stages of crisis response proposed by the Plan. Ultimately, only proactive and coordinated action, which also ensures a fair outcome for consumers, can best address the present challenges and Europe’s energy regulators stand ready to do their part.

Commenting on the European Commission’s “Save Gas for a Safe Winter” Plan, the ACER Director, Christian Zinglersen, stated:

“In light of gas supply disruption risks, it is important to take proactive measures now to reduce gas demand. Demand reduction measures are essential to complement supply side measures.”

The CEER President, Annegret Groebel, stated:

“Extraordinary short-term interventions should not prevent the long-term solutions/targets related to the energy transition and climate targets. Rather, the need to reduce gas demand now should serve as an accelerator to the green transition and reaching the climate targets if handled properly. Of course, we must keep in mind vulnerable consumer groups such as low-income households that that may need targeted measures.”

Access the Press Release.