The EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) concludes that there is no need for developing new voluntary Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) templates in the EU energy market.

What are the PPAs?

PPAs are contractual arrangements between electricity producers (often renewable energy generators) and buyers. By providing renewable electricity at mutually agreed rates, these contracts foster stability for both parties and promote renewable energy sources (RES).

What is the ACER assessment about?

The (2024) Electricity Market Design (EMD) Regulation promotes PPAs as long-term instruments for ensuring price stability. As part of the EMD reforms, ACER was tasked with assessing whether additional voluntary PPA contract templates are needed to foster the transparency, efficiency and integration of the European internal energy market.

In conducting its assessment, ACER engaged with more than a 100 diverse stakeholders including through an expert group and a public consultation over summer 2024.

What are ACER’s conclusions?

ACER’s engagement with stakeholders showed that:

• Existing templates, developed by industry associations and national bodies, are largely sufficient for current market needs.

• These templates help market participants (especially newer or smaller players) reduce legal costs and streamline the initial phases of the contracting process.

• Addressing critical market barriers, such as project development bottlenecks, would have a more meaningful impact on fostering the PPA market.

ACER concludes that there is no need to introduce new voluntary PPA contract templates. Instead, ACER will provide recommendations on how to improve existing ones and advise on how to remove barriers to market integration.

What are the next steps?

ACER will continue to monitor the PPA market as part of its reporting obligations and to support market participants by addressing structural barriers in its recommendations.

Updates will be regularly shared with stakeholders on the ACER’s website and via the newsletter.

The Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC) has imposed a €1,081,502 fine on Neuro Energía y Gestión for manipulating the Spanish electricity market between 23 August 2022 and 15 March 2023.

This penalty comes under the REMIT Regulation (EU) No 1227/2011, which prohibits market manipulation and seeks to protect the integrity and transparency of the EU’s wholesale energy markets.

In its decision, CNMC found that Neuro Energía y Gestión had breached Article 5 of REMIT, specifically Article 2.2.a.i by:

• Issuing and withdrawing non-genuine orders to be in an advantageous position to execute cross-border sales with France.
• Manipulating the market by providing false or misleading signals as to the supply, demand, and price of wholesale energy products.

The investigation revealed that Neuro Energía y Gestión, in 125 trading sessions, issued and withdrew non-genuine orders using the digital certificates of 34 other market agents. The goal was to control the offer processing queue on the continuous intraday electricity cross-border sales contracts with France.

ACER welcomes this decision by CNMC, which seeks to promote the transparency and integrity of the Spanish electricity market.

Access the Decision and CNMC’s press release (both in Spanish).

See the latest table of REMIT breach sanction decisions adopted by national regulatory authorities.

Check the ACER REMIT Guidance (6th edition) for more information on the types of trading practices which could constitute market manipulation under REMIT.

Interested in further information on enforcement decisions under REMIT? Check out ACER’s REMIT Quarterly reports.

ACER publishes today its Opinion on the compliance of the draft joint Scenarios Report for the Ten-Year Network Development Plan (TYNDP) 2024 with ACER’s Framework Guidelines.

The draft joint Scenarios Report for the TYNDP is issued by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG) and electricity (ENTSO-E) every two years. ACER reviews the draft Scenarios Report to ensure compliance with its Framework Guidelines, as this contributes to build a solid foundation to the European energy network development.

What are the network development scenarios?

Network development scenarios are key for planning future energy infrastructure. They project the evolution of the European energy system over the coming decade and guide the development of infrastructure needed to achieve Europe’s decarbonisation goals.

​​​​​Under the TEN-E Regulation, ACER is responsible for creating Framework Guidelines for Scenario Development, while ENTSOG and ENTSO-E (the ‘ENTSOs’) are tasked with developing network scenarios based on these guidelines. In January 2023, ACER published its Framework Guidelines, aiming to establish a transparent, inclusive, and robust process.

What are ACER’s key findings?

While welcoming some improvements in the scenarios’ development process, ACER’s assessment identifies several areas of non-compliance with its Framework Guidelines:

• Diverging scenarios: rather than developing different scenario variants based on economic factors, the ENTSOs created diverging scenarios, leading to less reliable results.
• Delayed process: scenarios’ development was delayed, negatively impacting other processes, such as the infrastructure gaps assessment or the project-specific cost-benefit analysis.
• Slower stakeholder group formation: the process of establishing the Stakeholder Reference Group took longer than expected, which impacted the stakeholder engagement’s overall effectiveness.
• Transparency: despite enhanced transparency and stakeholder consultations, the draft 2024 Scenarios Report still did not fully meet the transparency standards set by the Framework Guidelines. For instance, a detailed reasoning on how the stakeholders’ observations were addressed or considered has not been provided.

What are the next steps?

ACER expects some of these issues to be addressed in the final 2024 Scenarios Report for the TYNDP and anticipates that ENTSOG and ENTSO-E will further tackle the remaining shortcomings in the 2026 scenarios.

In line with the TEN-E Regulation, the European Commission will review the draft joint Scenarios Report for TYNDP and, taking into account ACER’s Opinion, it will either approve it or ask the ENTSOs for amendments.

Following the introduction of Intraday Auctions (IDAs) within the Single Intraday Coupling (SIDC) earlier this year, together with the latest update of the electronic formats for data reporting, ACER publishes today the updated:

• Transaction Reporting User Manual (TRUM) and its Annexes; and
• FAQs on REMIT transaction reporting.

What are Intraday Auctions?

Intraday Auctions (IDAs) were introduced within the SIDC framework in June 2024 to facilitate intraday electricity trading across Europe. IDAs are implicit auctions held three times a day that price and allocate intraday transmission capacity simultaneously across different bidding zones. This mechanism improves market efficiency by providing clear price signals and balancing electricity trading positions.

What’s new in ACER guidance documents?

• TRUM and its Annexes: the amendments mainly focus on providing guidance on reporting the delivery point for Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) supply contracts that specify delivery within the EU without identifying a specific LNG terminal. This update was needed to align ACER transaction reporting guidance documents with the List of Accepted Energy Identification Codes (EICs).
• FAQs on REMIT transaction reporting: the 17th edition of the FAQs was developed in consultation with the relevant Nominated Electricity Market Operators (NEMOs) to provide guidance on the reporting of transactions related to the recently introduced SIDC IDAs.

What are the next steps?

Reporting parties are expected to comply with the updated transaction reporting guidance on SIDC IDAs within 3 months of its publication on the ACER website (i.e., by the end of December 2024).

Both updated documents are available in the REMIT Knowledge Base.

The EU’s drive towards carbon neutrality by 2050 requires swift changes. Today’s ACER-CEER 2024 Market Monitoring Report on energy retail and consumer protection emphasises that the clean energy transition will not occur without power system flexibility and the active participation of energy consumers.

Which key challenges did the report identify?

• Slow smart meter adoption
• Increased price volatility
• Fixed contracts dominate
• Member States price interventions hinder flexibility

What are the key recommendations of the energy regulators’ report?

Retail markets can play a pivotal role as providers of flexibility. Unlocking more flexible retail consumption is crucial for the energy transition's success. It also creates opportunities for consumers to benefit from lower energy prices.

The report calls on regulatory authorities and Member States to prioritise demand-side response frameworks, incentivise efficient grid use, and accelerate the rollout of smart meters. Dynamic pricing and flexible contracts are key to empowering consumers.

To unlock greater flexibility in retail energy markets, the report calls for:

• The regulatory framework to be updated to promote demand-side response while balancing household consumer protection.
• Incentives to optimise efficient grid usage.
• Faster smart meter rollout.
• Empowering consumers through more flexible contract options. Additionally, raising consumer awareness and providing incentives for flexible energy consumption are key to driving the energy transition.

ACER's monitoring shows a gradual decrease in EU household energy prices

Average EU energy prices stabilised in 2024 after a major decrease the previous year, although they remain higher than pre-crisis levels. Retail price variations depend on contract types. Member States with more fixed-rate contracts saw slower reductions, leading to higher consumer costs compared to those with dynamic contracts.

To help track these trends, ACER has released a dashboard that shows the monthly changes in electricity and gas prices, including components like energy, network charges, and taxes across Member States from January 2019 to August 2024.

Get involved!

ACER and CEER will hold a webinar to present the report’s main findings and recommendations (Monday, 7 October 2024 at 14:00 CET). Register (for free) here.

Read more.

Explore the infographic.

Today, ACER releases its Opinion on the National Resource Adequacy Assessment of Estonia. This is the first ACER Opinion on a National Resource Adequacy Assessment (NRAA).

What is a resource adequacy assessment?

The European Resource Adequacy Assessment (ERAA) identifies potential concerns about electricity resource adequacy across the EU and provides an objective framework for assessing the need for additional national measures to ensure security of electricity supply. ERAA is carried out on an annual basis by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) and reviewed by ACER. In May 2024, ACER approved ERAA for the first time.

Member States can complement the European analysis with their own national assessment (NRAA). While national assessments follow the ERAA methodology, they may introduce changes in terms of, for example:

• new information as it becomes available since the latest ERAA;
• national specificities that are not reflected in ERAA.

Why an ACER Opinion?

When a national assessment identifies new adequacy concerns, and the Member State informs ACER, ACER must issue an Opinion on the differences between the national and European assessments.

In some cases, ACER’s opinion can play a role in the capacity mechanism application process. This process includes:

• identifying the necessity for the State aid measure;
• drafting the market reform plan;
• designing the eventual State aid measure.

Once all steps are finalised, the Member State may offer additional remuneration to resources through the capacity mechanism to close the forecasted adequacy gap.

What are ACER findings?

• The Estonian NRAA includes elements that represent a positive benchmark for future national assessments by:
  • Modelling the relevant neighbouring countries (and ensuring the interconnected market is taken into account).
  • Using ERAA 2023 as a starting point to ensure consistency and comparability between the two assessments.
• The differences with some of the ERAA 2023 assumptions are justified, as the Estonian NRAA:
  • Incorporates new information about interconnector commissioning and renewable energy development.
  • Better reflects regional specificities concerning balancing reserves.
  • Includes a sensitivity analysis to illustrate the role of oil shale-based generation at national level.
• However, the application of the updated assumptions is inconsistent throughout the assessment. While they have been used to recalculate the resource adequacy risk, their impact on the market (e.g. whether investments in new resources can mitigate the adequacy risk) has not been evaluated.

What are the next steps?

Considering these findings, ACER recommends the Estonian Transmission System Operator to assess how the new assumptions may impact the market and, if necessary, to amend the NRAA. This will improve the consistency of the Estonian adequacy assessment and the robustness of its results.