This month we are pleased to feature the CEER 5th Benchmarking Report on the Quality of Electricity Supply, which is just published. This comprehensive report documents the quality of electricity supply in terms of its levels and its regulation across Europe. It provides extensive data from 26 European countries, including for the first time a dedicated Annex on the Energy Community (of South East Europe) and case studies on Switzerland.
The report is an important reference tool for managers and staff of utilities, regulatory authorities, electricity manufacturers, customer organisations, policy makers, EU institution officials and others who need to understand the changes taking place in the electricity distribution and transmission business. The report can be downloaded (free) from www.ceer.eu
At our workshop on meter data management, there was strong interest in privacy and security in smart metering and in the different case studies. In terms of next events, only 2 weeks to go ‘til World Forum on Energy Regulation in Quebec (see international section for a flavour of what’s on at WFERV).
Save the dates! CEER is co-hosting with the European Commission a workshop (Vienna, 30-31 May) in the framework of the Eastern Partnership Platform on Energy Security. The workshop will address the role, powers and challenges of regulators, with an emphasis on customer protection. During Sustainable Energy Week, CEER will host 2 events: a CEER/ICER workshop (20 June) on Renewable Energy Strategy; the other is an interactive consumer event (21 June) targeted principally at national consumer bodies.
Feature - Benchmarking the quality of electricity supply in Europe
Quality of supply can be measured by the number and duration of power cuts, the power surges or dips which affect our electronic equipment, or the timeliness and efficiency of the customer service provided by electricity companies.
Why does CEER monitor the quality of electricity supply? CEER promotes competitive EU energy markets so that consumers get fair prices, good choice and the best quality of supply possible. In benchmarking and documenting the quality of electricity supply, CEER aims to spreads best practice on quality of supply regulation including incentive/penalty regimes. The report, just published on www.ceer.eu, is the 5th in a series of benchmarking reports conducted by CEER since 2011.
What is in the report? The 5th Benchmarking Report addresses the three major aspects of quality of electricity supply: (1) The availability of electricity (continuity of supply); (2) Its technical properties (voltage quality); and (3) The speed and accuracy with which customer requests are handled (commercial Packed with data and figures, this 5th Benchmarking Report analyses progress since the last edition (4th Report) in 2008. We are pleased that this 5th Report includes information from 10 new countries, with several case studies on Switzerland and a dedicated Annex on the quality of supply in the 9 Energy Community contracting parties.
The 5th Benchmarking Report points to remarkable improvements in continuity of supply across Europe (helped in no small way by the collective work of regulators through CEER). The report shows how quality/incentive regulation is an important tool which aims to strike the right balance between cost efficiency and quality of supply. It also provides recommendations for further improvements in the regulation of the quality of electricity supply.
Public Consultations
Visit ourwebsiteto be updated on our future consultations.
Events
Visit our website to be updated on our future events.
Publications
•5th CEER Benchmarking Report on the Quality of Electricity Supply (2011)
International
World Forum on Energy Regulation (WFERV), 13-16 May 2012
WFERV is an international 3-day conference on energy regulation which will draw top-level energy experts (not only regulators) from across the globe. It provides a unique opportunity for all those working in or effected by energy regulation to share experiences and network with the world’s leaders in energy regulatory issues in beautiful Quebec city, a world heritage city.
The four themes of the conference are: • Regulatory best practices • Consumer issues • Opening of markets • Technological change and renewables
Jon Wellinghoff (Chair of FERC, USA) and R. Hashim (President of IGU) will speak on changing market boundaries. Prof. D. Kammen (Berkeley), Ja-Yoon Ko (Korean regulator) and K. Wurcherer (President of the International Electrotechnical Commission) will address how energy networks must adapt. Other distinguished speakers include Prof. S. Littelchild (Cambridge University), D. Houssin (IEA), Lord Mogg (CEER), D. Dobbeni (ENTSO-E) and many more. See the full conference programme and registerfor WFERV.
