The EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) publishes today its second report on the implementation of the European Union Network Code on Harmonised Transmission Tariff Structures for Gas (NC TAR) for the Austrian transmission system.

The report focuses on the introduction of a commodity tariff, which aims at allocating the costs resulting from the recent increase in energy prices taking place in 2021-22 and forecasted for 2023-24. Transmission system operators’ (TSOs) networks require energy to run compressor stations, and the prices of both electricity and gas have increased, compared to the initial estimates made by the national regulatory authority (NRA) in 2020. As a consequence, the Austrian NRA, E-Control, is consulting on the possibility to introduce a commodity charge by 1 June 2022.

What are ACER’s recommendations?

ACER recommends to E-Control to further justify why the proposed commodity tariffs should be applied before the end of the on-going tariff period, which concludes in 2024. Such changes should take place only exceptionally.

In particular, the NRA should:

• provide additional information on how the increases in energy prices affect TSOs’ capacity to continue operating the network;

• further justify the entry into force date of the proposed commodity tariffs based on the TSOs’ capacity to continue operating the network;

• increase the transparency of TSOs’ tenders for purchasing energy, and ensure that these procedures have taken place in a transparent, competitive and non-discriminatory manner.

ACER further notes that, according to the NC TAR, the same flow-based charge should be set at all entry and/or at all exit points. The proposed flow-based charge is not applied at entry points from storage.

Finally, ACER recommends to the NRA to publish the decisions on the TSOs’ allowed revenue, including the initial decision applicable to the current tariff period and the recently adopted amendments to allocate the increase in energy prices. These decisions contain key information for the calculation of the proposed flow-based charge.

E-Control shall adopt a motivated decision on the application of the proposed commodity tariffs by 14 July 2022, although its publication will most likely happen earlier, given the urgency.

Read more on the report.

Access all ACER reports on national tariff consultation documents.

On 03 May 2022, the French energy regulatory authority (CRE) published two sanction decisions adopted by its Dispute Settlement and Sanctions Committee (CoRDiS) imposing fines of:

• EUR 500,000 on Electricité de France SA (EDF), for breaching the obligation to disclose inside information under Article 4 of the EU Regulation on Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency (REMIT) and the prohibition of insider trading under Article 3,

• EUR 50,000 on EDF Trading Limited (EDFT), for manipulating the French wholesale electricity market in breach of Article 5 of REMIT.

CoRDiS found that in October 2016, in a context of high electricity prices and stressed markets (due to the unavailability of several EDF nuclear reactors), EDF failed to publicly disclose inside information in an effective and timely manner. The information related to the request from the French Nuclear Safety Agency for additional controls over five nuclear reactors, which would lead to their temporary unavailability.

Furthermore, EDF used this inside information to acquire two related wholesale energy products via its trading subsidiary EDFT, thus breaching the prohibition of insider trading.

CoRDiS further assessed an operational mistake that EDFT had acknowledged, which led to excessive purchases on the French day-ahead electricity market and contributed to the price spikes observed on 7 and 8 November 2016. CoRDiS concluded that EDFT’s erroneous orders likely gave false or misleading signals as to the supply and demand on the spot electricity market.

Access CoRDiS’ decisions (in French).

Both sanctions decisions can be subject to an appeal to the French Conseil d’Etat.

What’s the role of ACER?

In accordance with its European wholesale energy market monitoring duties to detect and prevent trading based on inside information and market manipulation, ACER contributed by analysing EDF’s behaviours and providing its preliminary assessment to CRE, stating its reasonable grounds to suspect insider trading by this market participant.

In 2021, ACER updated its Guidance on REMIT (6th Edition) to anticipate upcoming decisions from National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) on insider trading and on erroneous orders giving false or misleading signals. The updated Guidance included a specific chapter on the prohibition of insider trading (Chapter 5) and provided additional examples of market manipulation (Chapter 6).

ACER welcomes this first decision against insider trading under REMIT, as well as sanctioning market manipulation resulting from erroneous orders. ACER underlines that unintentional behaviours can also possibly disrupt the wholesale energy markets and be subject to market manipulation prohibited by REMIT.

Following the results of the Locational Marginal Pricing (LMP) analysis carried out by Transmission System Operators (TSOs), the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) has initiated the procedure to decide on the TSOs’ proposal of alternative bidding zone configurations.

What is the role of ACER?

In their proposal for a methodology and configurations to be considered for the bidding zone review, TSOs did not include alternative configurations for a large part of Europe.

To better address this topic and further inform its decision making process, ACER envisaged to take two separate decisions. The first decision (ACER Decision 29/2020) included the approval of the bidding zone review methodology and assumptions, and requested TSOs to carry out a LMP analysis.

In the second decision, ACER will decide on the alternative bidding zone configurations to be investigated in the bidding zone review.

What are the benefits?

A better bidding zone configuration, whose borders are based on long-term, structural congestions, can bring several benefits, including increased opportunities for cross-zonal trades, more efficient network investments and cost-efficient integration of new technologies.

What are the next steps?

ACER will adopt this second decision by 20 July 2022.

As a following step, TSOs should start the bidding zone review, expected to last for 12 months.

The EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) and the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) announce a public consultation in preparation for the joint paper on the upcoming revisions to the European Grid Connection Network Codes.

The aim of this consultation is to collect stakeholders’ views on the key areas of amendments of the upcoming revision of the European Grid Connection Network Codes (GC NCs); in particular concerning the revision of the network code on requirements for grid connection of generators and on demand connection. Along with the public consultation, ACER and CEER publish today a consultation paper to share some initial considerations.

The ACER-CEER consultation paper mainly covers the needs for amendments to:

• the technical requirements for electrical charging points and for electric vehicles,

• determination of the significance of power generating modules (based on their size and effect on the overall system),

• the requirements to effectively enable mixed customer sides, active customers and energy communities,

• the implications of significant modernisation, and

• generators’ resilience to weather hazards.

The consultation addresses potential challenges, draws on the alternative policy options and provides recommendations for the amendment process.

To collect inputs on the areas of the revisions to the Grid Connection Network Codes (GCNCs), ACER and CEER open today a public consultation running from Friday 6 May until Friday 10 June 2022.

ACER and CEER will also hold a public workshop on Wednesday 25 May 2022, from 10.00 to 12.00 CET, to present the consultation paper and to gather further views from stakeholders.

What are the next steps?

In the framework of the Grid Connection European Stakeholder Committee, the European Commission proposed that ACER initiates the process of amending the existing GC NCs in September 2022.

The outcome of this public consultation is a joint paper planned for publication by September 2022. ACER intends to launch a full-fledged public consultation on the stakeholders’ amendment proposals to the GC NCs in September 2022.

Read more on the Public Consultation and share your inputs!

Register to the ACER-CEER event.

The EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) publishes today the 28th edition of its REMIT Quarterly.

What is the REMIT Quarterly?

The REMIT Quarterly is the Agency’s main channel of communication with stakeholders on REMIT-related matters, and provides updates on ACER’s REMIT activities.

Covering the first quarter of 2022, this edition highlights the REMIT decision on market manipulation in the French gas market, upheld by the French High Court, which resulted in EUR 1 million fine.

The Quarterly also includes:

• the hydrogen wholesale market development, which looks at the structural developments of last year towards a liquid wholesale market for hydrogen,

• the recent updates on the ACER decision regarding the Single Intraday Coupling (SIDC) market,

• considerations for an enhanced REMIT stakeholders’ awareness,

•  statistics on Registered Reporting Mechanisms (RRMs)’ contingency reports, as well as providing an overview of REMIT breach cases in the first quarter of 2022,

• recent updates of the REMIT documentation.

Read more.