| Press Release 19-07 CEER has taken on heating regulation – Joint CEER-ERÚ workshop on heating regulation
16 October 2019 Energy Regulatory Office (ERÚ) of the Czech Republic and CEER, in cooperation with the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic, held a joint workshop titled “Heating Regulation – Experiences across Europe“. The workshop focused on a range of heating-related regulatory issues, including investment assessment, and the future of heat networks in both national and European climate and energy plans. The workshop’s main objective was to share and exchange experience with the regulation of the heating sector.
“District heating is a long-established technology in the Czech Republic and in a number of other European countries. Where it is not so, centralised heat production and distribution and combined heat and power is considered a promising option for meeting climate and energy goals,“ said ERÚ chairman Stanislav Trávníček in his opening remarks. „While there are widely diverging regulatory approaches to heating across Europe many regulators actually face similar challenges. That’s why I found the workshop highly topical” he added.
The workshop was attended by over 40 participants from 12 countries. There were a total of 6 presentations describing the various experiences in Lithuania, Denmark, Latvia, Hungary, Croatia, and the Netherlands. We were also honored to have a Commission representative. The presentations clearly showed that the heating sector is very diverse and there are important specificities compared to electricity and gas. This is reflected in key regulatory aspects which differ from country to country.
CEER president Annegret Groebel highlighted: “CEER is getting ready for the decarbonisation packaged and more broadly the European Green Deal which will no doubt also the role district heating can play in meeting our energy and climate goals. We made an important first step to pool the significant regulatory expertise CEER has among its members. We want to be a reliable and trusted partner for the Commission and our stakeholders also on heating regulation. We strive to promote best practice regulation, foster markets, and empower customers across all energy vectors. I’m also glad that CEER is reaching out beyond Brussels”
Heat accounts for 50% of EU energy needs of which 10% is covered by district heating. Several CEER members are in charge of heating regulation. CEER believes that district heating and its regulation is an important element of EU’s energy transition. While there may be a limited scope for a fully-fledged harmonisation, heat supply is already being affected by EU energy policies, from the renewables and emission targets, to the energy efficiency first principle to the Energy Union governance framework. The European energy regulators fully appreciate that more coordinated action at EU level is needed. Ends - see Notes for Editors |
