The Energy Community Secretariat
release on 15 July 2015 the Draft for Consultation on the Policy Guidelines on
the Promotion of Organised Electricity Markets in the Contracting Parties
developed with the support of an ad-hoc working group comprising academia and
industry professionals listed at the end of the document
As known, the Energy Community
acquis communautaire establishes the foundations for electricity market
integration in its Parties. In particular, the Third Energy Package puts increased
emphasis on coordinated cooperation as key to achieve this. The forthcoming
Regulation on Capacity Allocation and Congestion Management (CACM) is a
significant regulatory measure establishing a single mechanism for the
cross-border trade of electricity for the day-ahead and intraday timeframes.
Its impact on the transmission of electricity, creation of competition and
finally integration of wholesale markets is likely to translate into the single
most important market reform in the Energy Community in the years to come.
The CACM Regulation is pivotal to
the entire Energy Community, as its provisions govern the functioning of a
single mechanism for the day-ahead and intraday markets for wholesale
electricity. Large parts of the Regulation aim at coupling the Member States of
the European Union and are hence assuming the existence of organised market
structures in the markets-to-be-integrated. The lack of such organised market
structure in the Contracting Parties may be an impediment for a timely implementation
of the Regulation’s requirements.
Then the Purpose of the above
Guidelines is to facilitate the establishment of organised market structures in
the Contracting Parties by providing guidance on the harmonised development of
the institutions, processes and compatible rules needed to reach the targets
foreseen. In order to create a single regulatory space for trade in electricity
pursuant to Article 2(b) of the Treaty establishing the Energy Community, and
to avoid any discrimination pursuant to Article 7, three elements are needed:
– First, the CACM Regulation will
need to be adopted into the acquis of the Energy Community, transposed and
implemented in the Contracting Parties in a timely manner, resulting in a
needed degree of legal certainty;
– Second, the legal and factual
barriers to electricity market integration and liberalisation will need to be
abandoned in the Contracting Parties in order to allow for the creation of a
level playing field; and
– Third, the underlying markets
allowing for coupling need to be established.
The Policy Guidelines aim
especially at the latter two dimensions. It is important to underline that the
recommendations of this document are based on the assumption to implement the
CACM Regulation in the Contracting Parties and foresee its requirements as a
prerequisite. Building on this, the present Policy Guidelines aim to provide
guidance on specific implementation aspects that are to be provided and / or
abolished in the Contracting Parties’ national market framework in order to
allow for competitive spot electricity markets on national basis and,
consequently, coupling of markets across borders.
To this
extent, competitive national market structures are understood as condition sine
qua non for development of cross-border and regional integration. However, the
above Policy Guidelines are without prejudice to the interpretation of Energy
Community law in accordance with the case law of the Court of Justice of the
European Union or guidance given by the Ministerial Council under Article 94 of
the Treaty.