The EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) publishes today its first monitoring report on the use of congestion income in 2021 (‘Report’).

According to Regulation (EU) 2019/943, all income generated as a result of the cross-zonal capacity allocation must be used as a priority for either guaranteeing the actual availability of the allocated capacity, or for maintaining or increasing cross-zonal capacities. Only where these objectives are fulfilled, the revenues can be used as income when determining network tariffs. Potential residual revenues shall be placed on an internal account line until they can be spent for the abovementioned purposes.

In addition, National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) must publish a report and inform ACER detailing:

• the amount of collected revenues;
• the amount placed on a separate account line;
• the amount used as income when determining network tariffs;
• explain how the collected revenues were used in view of fulfilling priority objectives.

What are the Report’s key findings?

In summary, the Report finds that the total available congestion income (CI) in 2021 was €6.9 billion. Out of these, €4.9 billion were collected during 2021 and €2 billion were already saved in separate accounts before 2021.

In 2021, the available CI (€6.9 billion) was used as follows:

• €3.1 billion (45%): used on priority objectives;
• €3.4 billion (49%): saved on internal accounts;
• €342 million (5%): used for tariff reductions;
• €89 million (1%): spent on taxes.

ACER welcomes the fact that, compared to 2020, the amount of CI used for priority objectives or saved for future priority objectives-related use increased for 7% (from 88% to 95%), and that the share of CI used for tariff reduction compared to the available CI was reduced by 7% (from 12% to 5%). These figures show an increasing use of CI to fulfil the priority objectives. Despite that, ACER concludes that the priority objectives cannot be deemed fulfilled for five countries, namely for BG, ES, GR, HU, and SI.

ACER prepared this report in line with its duties to monitor the internal electricity markets, the implementation of Projects of Common Interests (PCIs), the EU Ten-Year Network Development Plan (TYNDP) and in order to avoid the lack of prioritisation of necessary interconnection projects at a national level.

Access the Report.

The EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) and the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) publish today the Energy Retail and Consumer Protection Volume of this year’s Market Monitoring Report (MMR).

What is the Energy Retail and Consumer Protection Volume of the MMR about?

The Energy Retail and Consumer Protection Volume of the Market Monitoring Report offers an overview of retail energy market developments across the European Union during 2021. Given the significance of the current energy crisis in Europe the Volume also includes some recent pricing information for 2022 which has been provided by VaasaETT.

It looks at:

• retail market performance, supplier concentration levels and the availability of gas and electricity offers to consumers;
• the price paid by energy consumers for both gas and electricity across the European Union; and
• the impact of high energy prices on household expenditure. 

It issues a set of recommendations:

• to ensure that measures to assist consumers in response to the energy crisis are targeted at those most in need; 
• to ensure that quality comparison tool websites are available to European energy consumers; and,
• to ensure that National Regulatory Authorities (NRA) check the compliance of energy consumer bills with the common rules for the internal market for electricity (Directive (EU) 2019/944)

Some main findings:

1. Retail energy prices started an upward trend at the end of 2021, these price increases to continue during 2022 and into 2023.
2. Electricity and gas price increases will put a greater number of consumers at risk of energy poverty.
3. Supplier bankruptcies have resulted in less choice in the market for energy consumers.
4. Consumers have demonstrated a preference for fixed price contracts. However, suppliers will struggle to offer such contracts at competitive prices in 2022 and likely into 2023.

Download the 2021 Energy Retail and Consumer Protection Volume.

Register and join a presentation of the Energy Retail and Consumer Protection MMR 2021 at the webinar on Wednesday, 12 October 2022.

Explore the rest of the MMR publications and energy market data in our interactive dashboard.

The EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) launches today a public consultation inviting stakeholders to submit their views on the new framework guidelines on scenarios for network development planning (Scenarios Guidelines).

The procedure to adopt new Scenarios Guidelines that will be used in the electricity and gas Ten-Year Network Development Plans (TYNDPs) was initiated in July 2022.

In order to make an informed and inclusive decision on these Guidelines, ACER will collect views on draft guidelines from the stakeholders in a public consultation that will run until 14 November 2022.

Background

Every two years, the European Network of Transmission System Operators  for Electricity (ENTSO-E) and  for Gas (ENTSOG) prepare joint scenarios which set the basis for the future network development planning in the European Union.

Scenarios include a set of assumptions about energy demand and supply evolutions which aim at supporting the biennial Union-wide TYNDPs. These TYNDP processes feed into the identification and selection of Projects of Common Interest, which play an important role in making the infrastructure ready to achieve the energy and climate policy objectives.

The recasted TEN-E Regulation requires that the TYNDP joint scenarios must be transparent, non-discriminatory and robust.   

What is the role of ACER?

To ensure these TYNDP scenarios meet those criteria and are as well in line with the European Union’s climate and energy objectives, ACER is first drafting and then adopting Scenario Guidelines. ENTSO-E and ENTSOG shall follow these Scenarios Guidelines for developing the joint scenarios.

Next steps

After the Public Consultation, ACER will evaluate the received feedback and take it into consideration when finalising the Guidelines.

ACER’s Scenarios Guidelines will be adopted by 24 January 2023. ACER will organise an online webinar on 26 January 2023 to explain the challenges and key decisions that shaped the Guidelines. Moreover, at the webinar ACER will invite stakeholders to provide feedback on the process of guidelines development to possibly improve the process in future.

Access the public consultation and the responses to the public consultation. 

Access the online webinar.

The EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) has revised and approved the all Transmission System Operators’ (TSOs’) proposal to amend the implementation frameworks for the European balancing platforms for the exchange of balancing energy from automatic and manual frequency restoration reserves (aFRR, mFRR) and for the imbalance netting.

In March 2022, all TSOs proposed an entity to perform the capacity management function for all platforms. This entity shall be a different one from those performing other functions of the respective platforms:

The amendment of the implementation framework of the mFRR platform also includes technical aspects, such as clarifications regarding complex bids and mFRR demand.

What are the benefits?

The implementation frameworks for the European balancing platforms provide the rules for the efficient cross-border exchange of balancing energy from frequency restoration reserves with automatic activation (aFRR) and manual activation (mFRR) and for the imbalance netting. This fosters the liquidity of balancing markets, lowers the cost of balancing energy at European level by using the cheapest resources, and contributes to operational security. 

What are the main elements of ACER’s decision?

ACER amended the TSOs’ proposals to further specify the designation of the entities performing the relevant functions of these platforms. In order to ensure the efficient and effective governance, operation and regulatory oversight of these platforms, ACER introduced several changes on:

• transparency and reporting,
• governance and decision making,
• cooperation framework, and
• operational aspects.

In particular, ACER suggested:

• establishment of a joint steering committee for all three platforms,
• requirements on the annual work program, and
• requirements to ensure proper fall-back and backup mechanisms.

The decision is in line with the objectives of the Electricity Balancing Regulation.

What are the next steps?

Following ACER’s decision, and within 6 months, all TSOs will designate CEPS as the entity to perform the capacity management function for the European balancing platforms for the aFRR, mFRR and the imbalance netting. All TSOs will implement the capacity management function of all three platforms by July 2024.

Access the Decisions 14-2022, 15-2022, 16-2022 and their annexes here.