What’s up and what’s new since the summer? We responded to the European Commission public consultation on the review of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR). Whilst supportive of EMIR’s objectives to improve transparency in derivatives markets and reduce systemic risk, we have some concerns over the scope and potential unintended consequences of EMIR on the Internal Energy Market (see our response on EMIR).
Speaking of energy and financial markets, don’t miss our training course (for regulators only) on REMIT implementation (9-10 November). Our feature article below is on our recent Concept Paper on gas security of supply (which has been welcomed as a valuable input now as the European Commission is revising Europe’s security of supply rules).
Next events The ACER-CEER “Bridge to 2025” anniversary event takes place in Brussels on 24 September.
Hurry up and register now for the CEER Customer Conference (20 October) !
CEER's recommendations to prevent gas supply crises
What’s in CEER’s Concept Paper on Gas Security of Supply? Our Concept Paper proposes a framework which aims to achieve an appropriate balance between a sufficiently high level of gas security of supply and keeping the cost of gas at a reasonable price for consumers.
The paper sets out high level high level principles (such as completing the Internal Gas Market as a crucial element of and EU security of supply strategy, and to “prevent first, mitigate later”, the paper makes 16 concrete recommendations (which are elaborated in detail) for measures to prevent gas supply crisis, in the so-called “prevention” and “mitigation” phases respectively.
Key recommendations: -use market-based instruments as long as possible (in the prevention phase), before moving into the mitigation phase (of state interventions via emergency plans) - mandatory regional plans and an extended role for the European Commission - obligatory supply standards and equal treatment for protected customers across countries - triggers for declaring an emergency.
Mandatory Regional Plans CEER advocates for closer regional cooperation as interventions in one market may affect neighbouring markets. In order to prepare properly for an emergency, competent authorities and NRAs shall draw up mandatory regional plans, which would be complementary to the national plans (risk assessment, preventive action plan, and emergency plan). CEER foresees a role for the European Commission in appointing a security of supply mediator when regions cannot reach consensus on the content of a regional plan. Intergovernmental solidarity principles should be ready to use in all Member States. They should be transparent and agreed upfront.
Protected customers and supply standards CEER calls for supply standards and protected customers to be defined at EU level; for supply standards being an obligation on suppliers; and for protected customer in one Member State to be treated equally in other Member State in case of an emergency (e.g. a Member State may not arbitrarily decide to reduce exit flows at the border in order to supply domestic consumers).
Triggers for declaring an emergency There should be clear triggers for different crisis levels (e.g. early warning level, alert level and emergency level).
CEER also calls for an explicit role for National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) to be systematically involved in the security of supply decision making process including making NRAs permanent members of the Gas Coordination Group.
• CEER Response to European Commission Consultation on the review of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) (C15-MIT-63-03) • A CEER Concept Paper on Security of Gas Supply (C15-GWG-122-04)
Training for regulators
Register now for our next Training courses for Regulators on Network Codes (8-9 October); Benchmarking (19 October); and REMIT (9-10 November).
