This month the world’s energy experts met in Istanbul at the 6th World Forum on Energy Regulation in Istanbul (see the Feature article below). Closer to home, Europe’s electricity stakeholders gathered for the 28th meeting of the European Electricity Regulatory Forum (so called Florence Forum). The main discussion point of this Florence Forum (4-5 June) is implementation and enforcement of existing energy laws so as to make Europe’s Internal Energy Market (IEM) a reality (see our presentation on flexibility). On the gas side, following an extensive public consultation, we have published our CEER Vision on the regulatory arrangements for the Gas Storage Market.
Coming soon! - CEER will run two Sustainable Energy Week (SEW) events; Our “Local Communities delivering the Energy Union” (17 June) event has the privilege of being a SEW high-level conference. Our Guaranteed Green event (19 June) addresses electricity disclosure systems and guarantees of origin. - We plan to launch a public consultation mid-June on our 2016 Work Programme priorities.
Save the date! CEER’s 2015 Customer Conference will be on Tuesday 20th October.
World Forum on Energy Regulation
This month energy experts from 60 countries met in Istanbul for the 6th World Forum on Energy Regulation (WFER). Global energy challenges and prospects were discussed under 4 broad themes: • Balancing stakeholders’ interests • Benefitting from change • Regulation and sustainability • Towards smart regulation
Mr Erdogan (President of the Turkish Republic) opened this major international convention (www.wfer2015.org). Turkey (through its regulator) was not only host of WFER VI, but is also the current chair of the G20 where energy is a centrally important issue.
With more than 1.3 billion people in the world still without electricity, Lord Mogg in his opening remarks explained: “Wherever they are in the world, citizens and businesses alike want secure, sustainable and affordable energy. In sharing our expertise and experiences with different regulatory approaches, we as regulators learn from each other and are better able to tackle challenges such as energy security which are increasingly global in nature.” Global regulatory cooperation - ICER Europe’s energy regulators had a strong presence at the World Forum. WFER is intimately linked with the International Confederation of Energy Regulators (ICER), which was created at WFER IV in Athens in 2009. CEER has taken a lead role both in establishing ICER and in its leading the work of this global association of energy regulators). Lord Mogg, CEER President and Chair of ACER’s Board of Regulators, had been Chair of ICER since its inception in 2009 until May 2015. His successor as ICER Chair is Mr Alparslan Bayraktar (Chair of the Turkish regulator, EMRA). Two ICER Vice Chairs were appointed: Ms Susana Cazorla (CRE, Mexico) and Mr John Betkoski III (NARUC, USA). Over the past 6 years, energy regulators, whose jurisdiction is normally at national/state level, have been cooperating under the framework of the International Confederation of Energy Regulators (ICER). ICER’s goals are to identify and spread good regulatory practices and to enhance the understanding of the role of energy regulation particularly among policy makers. ICER has grown to become a major voice of energy regulators.
ICER published 3 international reports ICER presented the outcome of its current work programme at WFER VI. This included the publication of 3 ICER international reports: - Benefits to successful market integration - Regulatory approaches to managing investment uncertainty - Energy connections: engaging the consumer in building stronger systems
Enhancing the role of women in the world of energy regulation is a major and successful ICER initiative. The World Forum supported ICER’s efforts to promote more women speakers: 30% of WFER’s speakers were senior women in energy, and the first ever ICER all-female speaker event (on the topic of consumer engagement) was an official World Forum side event. ICER also held jointly with GO15 (the organisation of the largest transmission system operators) another official side event on flexibility and the challenges posed by high levels of penetration of renewable generation.
Regulators commit to tackling energy security, sustainability and competitiveness The ICER 2015-2018 Work Plan identifies 4 priorities for energy regulatory cooperation over the next 3 years: - Security of supply - Sustainability - Competitiveness - Good regulatory practices
Call for Articles and for Women in Energy Stories for the ICER Chronicle. Submissions welcome from regulators and non-regulators alike. Deadline: 3 August.
