L_2006312EN.01005901.xml
| 11.11.2006 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | L 312/59 |
COMMISSION DECISION
of 9 November 2006
amending the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 1228/2003 on conditions for access to the network for cross-border exchanges in electricity
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2006/770/EC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1228/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2003 on conditions for access to the network for cross-border exchanges in electricity (1), and in particular Article 8(4) thereof,
Whereas:
| (1) | Regulation (EC) No 1228/2003 set up guidelines on the management and allocation of available transfer capacity of interconnections between national systems. |
| (2) | Efficient methods of congestion management should be introduced in these guidelines for cross-border electricity interconnection capacities in order to ensure effective access to transmission systems for the purpose of cross-border transactions. |
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:
Article 1
The Annex to Regulation (EC) No 1228/2003 is replaced by the Annex to this Decision.
Article 2
This Decision shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Done at Brussels, 9 November 2006.
For the Commission
Andris PIEBALGS
Member of the Commission
(1) OJ L 176, 15.7.2003, p. 1.
ANNEX
Guidelines on the management and allocation of available transfer capacity of interconnections between national systems
1. General Provisions
| 1.1. | TSOs shall endeavour to accept all commercial transactions, including those involving cross-border-trade. |
| 1.2. | When there is no congestion, there shall be no restriction of access to the interconnection. Where this is usually the case, there need be no permanent general allocation procedure for access to a cross-border transmission service. |
| 1.3. | Where scheduled commercial transactions are not compatible with secure network operation, the TSOs shall alleviate congestion in compliance with the requirements of grid operational security while endeavouring to ensure that any associated costs remain at an economically efficient level. Curative redispatching or countertrading shall be envisaged in case lower cost measures cannot be applied. |
| 1.4. | If structural congestion appears, appropriate congestion management rules and arrangements defined and agreed upon in advance shall be implemented immediately by the TSOs. The Congestion management methods shall ensure that the physical power flows associated with all allocated transmission capacity comply with network security standards. |
| 1.5. | The methods adopted for congestion management shall give efficient economic signals to market participants and TSOs, promote competition and be suitable for regional and communitywide application. |
| 1.6. | No transaction-based distinction may be applied in congestion management. A particular request for transmission service shall be denied only when the following conditions are jointly fulfilled:
| (a) | the incremental physical power flows resulting from the acceptance of this request imply that secure operation of the power system may no longer be guaranteed, and |
| (b) | the value in monetary amount attached to this request in the congestion management procedure is lower than all other requests intended to be accepted for the same service and conditions. | |
| 1.7. | When defining appropriate network areas in and between which congestion management is to apply, TSOs shall be guided by the principles of cost-effectiveness and minimisation of negative impacts on the Internal Electricity Market. Specifically, TSOs may not limit interconnection capacity in order to solve congestion inside their own control area, except for the above mentioned reasons and reasons of operational security (1). If such a situation occurs, this shall be described and transparently presented to all the users by the TSOs. Such a situation may be tolerated only until a long-term solution is found. The methodology and projects for achieving the long-term solution shall be described and transparently presented to all the users by the TSOs. |
| 1.8. | When balancing the network inside the control area through operational measures in the network and through redispatching, the TSO shall take into account the effect of these measures on neighbouring control areas. |
| 1.9. | By not later than 1 January 2008, mechanisms for the intra-day congestion management of interconnector capacity shall be established in a coordinated way and under secure operational conditions, in order to maximise opportunities for trade and to provide for cross-border balancing. |
| 1.10. | The national Regulatory Authorities shall regularly evaluate the congestion management methods, paying particular attention to compliance with the principles and rules established in the present Regulation and Guidelines and with the terms and conditions set by the Regulatory Authorities themselves under these principles and rules. Such evaluation shall include consultation of all market players and dedicated studies. |
2. Congestion management methods
| 2.1. | Congestion management methods shall be market-based in order to facilitate efficient cross-border trade. For this purpose, capacity shall be allocated only by means of explicit (capacity) or implicit (capacity and energy) auctions. Both methods may coexist on the same interconnection. For intra-day trade continuous trading may be used. |
| 2.2. | Depending on competition conditions, the congestion management mechanisms may need to allow for both long- and short-term transmission capacity allocation. |
| 2.3. | Each capacity allocation procedure shall allocate a prescribed fraction of the available interconnection capacity plus any remaining capacity not previously allocated and any capacity released by capacity holders from previous allocations. |
| 2.4. | TSOs shall optimise the degree to which capacity is firm, taking into account the obligations and rights of the TSOs involved and the obligations and rights of market participants, in order to facilitate effective and efficient competition. A reasonable fraction of capacity may be offered to the market at a reduced degree of firmness, but the exact conditions for transport over cross-border lines shall at all times be made known to market participants. |
| 2.5. | The access rights for long- and medium-term allocations shall be firm transmission capacity rights. They shall be subject to the use-it-or-lose-it or use-it-or-sell-it principles at the time of nomination. |
| 2.6. | TSOs shall define an appropriate structure for the allocation of capacity between different timeframes. This may include an option for reserving a minimum percentage of interconnection capacity for daily or intra-daily allocation. This allocation structure shall be subject to review by the respective Regulatory Authorities. In drawing up their proposals, the TSOs shall take into account:
| (a) | the characteristics of the markets, |
| (b) | the operational conditions, such as the implications of netting firmly declared schedules, |
| (c) | the level of harmonisation of the percentages and timeframes adopted for the different capacity allocation mechanisms in place. | |
| 2.7. | Capacity allocation may not discriminate between market participants that wish to use their rights to make use of bilateral supply contracts or to bid into power exchanges. The highest value bids, whether implicit or explicit in a given timeframe, shall be successful. |
| 2.8. | In regions where forward financial electricity markets are well developed and have shown their efficiency, all interconnection capacity may be allocated through implicit auctioning. |
| 2.9. | Other than in the case of new interconnectors which benefit from an exemption under Article 7 of the Regulation, establishing reserve prices in capacity allocation methods shall not be allowed. |
| 2.10. | In principle, all potential market participants shall be permitted to participate in the allocation process without restriction. To |
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