| For more than a decade, Europe’s national energy regulators have been cooperating through CEER to create a single EU energy market to the benefit of all consumers. We successfully campaigned for an EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) and since its creation, in March 2011, we have worked closely with and supported the work of the Agency.
European energy regulators are committed to a complementary approach to energy regulation in Europe, with ACER primarily focusing on its statutory tasks related to cross border market development and oversight, whilst CEER pursues several broader issues including international and customer policies. The process of developing the 2013 Work Programme
In order to demonstrate the complementarity of European regulatory efforts, CEER and ACER aligned the timing for their 2013 Work Programmes. Public consultations on the 2 draft programmes ran, in parallel, during the summer period and there was a joint ACER-CEER lunchtime presentation with stakeholders' on 11 July 2012. For ease of reference, CEER's 2013 Work Programme list both the CEER and ACER deliverables. In brief, ACER’s 2013 Work Programme includes tools for cooperation and exchange of information amongst national regulators within ACER, Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency (REMIT) and a broad range of electricity, gas and cross sectoral activities. The four priorities of CEER’s 2013 work programme 1. Customers
This year CEER has placed particular emphasis on customer issues. In 2012, we began a process to build, with customers and other stakeholders, a 2020 vision for Europe’s energy customers. This work will continue in 2013. As well as on-going work, new 2013 customer deliverables include an analysis of the involvement of consumer organisations in the regulatory process; a review of how smart metering is progressing across Europe; and a review of current practices in terms of customers’ access to information on the cost and sources of their energy as well as energy efficiency schemes. Advice will be formulated on data management for better retail market functioning and on electricity green offers. 2. Development of competitive wholesale and retail energy markets
ACER has a number of responsibilities related to functioning wholesale markets. CEER has complemented this work by developing EU-wide target models for electricity and gas which are accepted by stakeholders as a major contribution to the achievement of competitive wholesale markets by the 2014 deadline set by EU heads of state. Market monitoring is an important ongoing activity for CEER in a number of areas.
While ACER has significant monitoring obligations, regulators are also interested in progress in some areas which are not addressed in that work, including LNG and gas storage transparency, DSO unbundling, and voluntary recommendations from CEER Guidelines of Good Practice. By supporting ACER’s work on an annual market monitoring report on the electricity and gas markets, CEER can contribute its experience and perspective of the markets in the analysis.
We will also continue our efforts to develop further elements from the Gas Target Model by reviewing the implementation of the various recommendations it contains and continuing our work on incremental gas capacity, carefully considering any linkages to the future framework guidelines on gas tariffs being developed in ACER. 3. New legislative/policy developments
We aim to maintain some flexibility in our work in order to react to any new issues or developments as they arise over the course of the year. In particular, sustainability, new infrastructure (the negotiations on the Connecting Europe Facility and the draft Regulation on Energy Infrastructure) and market integrity and financial regulation will be a growing field. CEER will continue to provide an independent regulatory point of view in political discussions and to ensure implementation, with a focus on the regional and national level.
4. International
CEER has been active in developing its relations with non-EU regulators, both through bilateral ties and in the framework of the International Confederation of Energy Regulators (ICER). We will continue to cooperate with our colleagues worldwide and actively contribute to ICER’s activities including the preparations for the 6th edition of the World Forum of Energy Regulation, which will be hosted by Turkey’s Energy Market Regulatory Authority in 2015 in Istanbul. | 