The Nordic Energy Regulators, NordREG, publishes the annual report for 2020. The report summarizes the cooperation between the Nordic regulatory authorities.

The year 2020 has been intense and despite covid-19 the cooperation has functioned well, and the regulatory authorities has completed the planned activities.

The focus area has been to implement EU-legislation for the retail market and continue to cooperate and create equal conditions on the Nordic electric market. NordREG has for example worked with the Nordic retail market, network regulation, and flexibility issues, which has a prominent role in the Clean Energy Package.

NordREG has had an important part to play in the coordination of the regulatory oversight of the new Nordic Balancing Model to ensure timely and efficient implementation in compliance with the legislation.

• NordREG annual report 2020

Nordic Energy Regulators face similar challenges with suppliers using unfair business practices. That was one of the conclusions from NordREG´s 3rd annual Monitoring Workshop where 20 experts from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden exchanged experiences and ideas on how to monitor the retail markets more effectively.

Three topics were discussed at the workshop: how to handle suppliers that attract many complaints, new EU rules to protect small businesses and challenges related to independent comparison tools.

Better cooperation needed between public bodies

The Nordic Energy Regulators receive many complaints from customers about suppliers that use unfair business practices. Misleading information, use of dubious sales methods and unreasonable contractual terms are examples found in all Nordic markets. The problems are limited to relatively few suppliers, but the supplier´s activities have severe consequences for both individual customers and the overall trust in the market.

• Since the responsibility for consumer protection is split between several public bodies, a closer national cooperation is needed between the national NRA, Crime Authority, Tax Agency, Consumer Agency and other authorities with legal powers to protect customers. NordREG will map the situation and continue to exchange experience about monitoring unwanted market behavior.

New EU rules will strengthen non-household customers

New EU legislation that comes into force 2021 will strengthen non-household customers. This is needed, since especially small businesses in recent years have become targets for suppliers using unfair business practices. Rules for termination fees, more mandatory information on bills and access to effective out-of-court dispute settlement are examples of legal protection now introduced for non-household customers.

• NordREG should continue to follow how the rules in the new Electricity directive are implemented nationally with a special focus on monitoring rights for non-household customers.

Nordic independent comparison tools have a lot to learn from each other

All Nordic countries face similar challenges regarding their independent comparison tools. The tools must be adapted to new EU legislation, the quality of the data reported by suppliers has to be improved and new functionalities have to be developed to help consumers in their choices of both traditional and flexibility contracts.

• Given the limited resources that each of the Nordic energy regulators have for operating and developing their comparison tool, it is of great value that the Nordic countries continue to share experience and ideas to be able to provide Nordic customers with high-quality comparison tools.

The Nordic Energy Regulators invites stakeholders and other interested parties to attend a meeting on cross-border capacities in the Nordic wholesale electricity markets on 4 December at 9:30-13.00 CET.

• Enclosed is the provisional agenda for the meeting

Topics will be status of the Nordic flow-based capacity calculation methodology implementation and current and expected cross-border capacities in Nordic region. In addition, there will be presentations on the state of play of legal implementation of congestion management requirements and the status of NRAs’ approval processes.

Presentations will be held by the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), the Nordic Transmission System Operators as well as the Nordic Energy Regulators.

The meeting is a continuation for the meeting held on 3 December 2019.

• Presentations and summary of that meeting can be found here.

Registration

The meeting will be held as online meeting. A recording from the meeting will be published afterwards on the NordREG’s website.

The meeting is open for stakeholders and other interested parties. However, each participant should register by 30 November 2020 by sending an email to nordreg@energiavirasto.fi

In registering please inform name, email address and organisation of the participants. Link to the online meeting will be sent to the registered participants by email few days before the meeting.

NordREG has developed a common methodology for the Nordic NRAs to perform their upcoming analyses of the cross-zonal hedging opportunities in line with Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/1719 of 26 September 2016 establishing a guideline on forward capacity allocation (FCA GL) article 30.

• To the methodology: NordREG Methodology for assessment of the Nordic forward market 2020

The regulators will use this methodology to assess whether there are sufficient hedging opportunities in the Nordic electricity market. If the hedging opportunities in two adjacent bidding zones are deemed insufficient, the regulators on each side of the bidding zone border must, in a coordinated manner, make decisions targeted at the TSO’s on each side to introduce long term transmission rights (LTTRs) or other measures to improve hedging opportunities.

The regulators will also launch consultations on their assessments and the hedging needs of market participants in accordance with FCA GL art. 30(3)(a) during winter 2020-2021 or early spring 2021.

The deadlines for national decisions on whether there are sufficient hedging opportunities, and coordinated decisions per bidding zone border on introducing LTTRs or not are in April 2021* .

*As Norway has not implemented the FCA GL in national legislation at this point, the deadline for Norwegian borders will depend on the implementation time.

The Nordic national regulatory authorities (“Nordic NRAs”) are launching a consultation on the methodology for capacity calculation in the day-ahead and intraday timeframe developed by all TSOs in the Nordic capacity calculation region in accordance with Article 20(2) of Commission Regulation (EU) 2015/1222 of 24 July 2015 establishing a guideline on capacity allocation and congestion management (“CACM Regulation”).

• Methodology for capacity calculation
• Explanatory document

The Nordic NRAs will assess and evaluate the proposal for approval within a period of 6 months or request changes to the proposal before the proposal can be approved.

The Nordic NRAs welcome written input on the methodology at the latest 29th June 2020.

Comments shall be sent to post@forsyningstilsynet.dk with copy to slrs@forsyningstilsynet.dk.

Please mark your answers to the consultation with the following reference: Nordic Capacity Calculation Methodology.

Contact persons in NordREG

Toril Naustvoll, NVE
tna@nve.no

Jori Säntti, EV
jori.santti@energiavirasto.fi

Kaj Forsberg, Ei
kaj.forsberg@ei.se

Søren Lorenz Søndergaard, DUR
slrs@forsyningstilsynet.dk

NordREG has been preparing a common approach on how to perform the upcoming analysis of the cross-zonal hedging opportunities in line with Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/1719 of 26 September 2016 establishing a guideline on forward capacity allocation (FCA GL) article 30.

Below you will find a link to the draft methodology, based on which the regulators are planning to conduct the upcoming study. All Nordic market participants are hereby invited to comment on the draft “Methodology for assessment of the Nordic forward market”.

• NordREG Draft methodology for assessment of the Nordic forward market 2020

NordREG is especially interested in hearing the stakeholders views on how the approach could be improved to better analyse the hedging opportunities in the Nordic markets. The background for the assessment is in the requirements in FCA GL article 30. The previous assessment was conducted in 2016-2017, please see links below.

The end objective is for regulators to assess whether there are sufficient hedging opportunities in the Nordic electricity market. If the hedging opportunities in two adjacent bidding zones are deemed insufficient, the regulators on each side of the bidding zone border must, in a coordinated manner, make decisions targeted at the TSO’s on each side to introduce long term transmission rights (LTTRs) or other measures to improve hedging opportunities.

The timeline looks as follows:

• This current consultation on proposed evaluation method (May-June 2020).
• Internal regulator assessments and decision on way forward (summer 2020).
• Data collection, calculations, assessments and draft decisions. (the timeline and exact approach varies per country).
• Consultations on the assessments and the hedging needs of market participants according to FCA art. 30(3)(a) (circa winter 2020-2021).
• National decisions on whether there are sufficient hedging opportunities and coordinated decisions per bidding zone border on introducing LTTRs or not (deadline April 2021)*.

Last day for replies – 2 June 2020

Please send your views, comments, considerations etc. in writing to registrator@ei.se with copy to tristan.norman@ei.se. Please mark your answers to the consultation with the following reference number 2020-100867.

Per default replies are public, but if you wish to be anonymous, please indicate this.

Deadline for replies: 2 June 2020 EOB.

*As Norway has not implemented the FCA GL in national legislation at this point, the deadline for Norwegian borders will depend on the implementation time.

Links to 2016-2017 documents

• Assessment Denmark
• Assessment Sweden
• Assessment Finland
• Norway did not conduct the assessment in 2016-2017.

In July 2018 the Nordic Regulators approved the Flowbased Capacity Calculation Methodology (“flowbased”) for the Nordic Capacity Calculation Region (“CCR Nordic”) in accordance with Article 20(2) of Commission Regulation (EU) 2015/1222 of 24 July 2015 establishing a Guideline on Capacity Allocation and Congestion Management.

An important part of the legislation and of the flowbased methodology is that “the TSOs concerned shall test the new approach alongside the existing approach and involve market participants for at least six months”. To Nordic Regulators’ understanding, testing the flowbased alongside the existing approach implies to have market coupling results each day with flowbased capacity input alongside the market coupling results with the current capacity input. This is referred to in the CCR Nordic methodology as “parallel runs”, and have been agreed to be performed for at least one year before flowbased can go live.

The NEMOs, which own the market coupling algorithm, have stated there are obstacles to perform the parallel runs on the same day as the market coupling, and therefore they want to do the parallel runs with a delay of 14 days. The Nordic Regulators assume that this is not in line with what everyone had in mind about parallel runs. Thus, the Nordic Regulators would welcome input from the stakeholders, and we hope you will take your time to answer the following and help us.

Question 1: How would it affect your assessment and understanding of the flowbased to have a 14-days delay on parallel runs compared to having the parallel run on the same day as the market coupling?

Question 2: Do you expect to be looking at the parallel run flowbased results every day, during the parallel runs? If not, with what frequency do you expect to assess the flowbased results?

Question 3: What kind of other problems, if any, would you foresee in running the parallel run with a delay of 14 days?

The Nordic Regulators appreciate your feedback by email before the end of 28 April 2020.

• Questionnaire to stakeholders on flowbased parallel runs in CCR Nordic

Contact

On behalf of Nordic Regulators
Søren Lorenz Søndergaard
Danish Utility Regulator

Phone: +45 41715373

E-mail: slrs@forsyningstilsynet.dk

The Regulatory Authorities of Capacity Region Nordic (the Danish Utility Regulator, the Finnish Energy Authority and the Swedish Energy Market Inspectorate) have decided to refer proposals on the establishment of a Nordic Market for frequency restoration reserves with automatic reserves to the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER).

The proposals were submitted by the Nordic Transmission System Operators for regulatory approval in accordance with the EU Regulation Establishing a Guideline on Electricity Balancing (EB GL). The purpose of the regulatory approval is to ensure that the proposals are compliant with the EB GL and other relevant EU legislation.

The Norwegian Energy Regulatory Authority has participated in discussions with the CCR Nordic NRAs on an informal basis pending the implementation of EB GL in Norway.

None of the revised proposals were found approvable by all of the CCR Nordic Regulatory Authorities. A unanimous approval within the deadlines in the EB GL is a prerequisite for approval at regional level.

As a consequence of the referral, ACER will now have to decide on the revised proposals within six months in accordance with the decision-making procedure set out in the ACER Regulation.

The referral letter to ACER with an accompanying document explaining why the proposals were not found approvable can be accessed here:

• Link to referral letter.
• Link to non paper.

Contact persons in NordREG

Thomas vom Braucke, DUR
tvbr@forsyningstilsynet.dk

Maria Rydberg, Ei
maria.rydberg@ei.se

Jori Säntti, EV
jori.säntti@energiavirasto.fi

Alexander Kellerer, NVE-RME
alek@nve.no

 

NordREG is gathering the views of stakeholders with experience of aggregation. The first and most pressing issue we are seeking to address, is the new requirement to allow for ‘independent aggregators’ (IA) under the new Electricity Directive. NordREG is aiming to align our approach to the regulatory framework around independent aggregation where possible to minimise cross-border barriers. This raises a lot of questions around metering, settlement, balance responsibility, market design and how such a system of aggregation could work in practice.

Time: 9:00 – 15.00, 21st Jan, 2020

Place: Radisson Blu Arlanda Airport Conference

Please register your attendance and food allergy to yalin.huang@ei.se before 17th Jan 2020. Attendance is limited, so only one seat per organization is guaranteed.

Agenda

9:00 Breakfast and mingel

9:45 Introduction

10:00 Types of Markets for IAs

10:45 Balance Responsibility and Settlement

Coffee

12:00 Measurement and Data Exchange

12:30 Lunch

13:00 Measurement and Data Exchange continued

13:50 Compensation for indirect imbalances

14:40 wrap-up

14:45 End

The Nordic Energy Regulators held a stakeholder meeting on cross-border capacities in the wholesale electricity markets on 3 December.

Among the topics were the ongoing process on a bidding zone review, the 70 % minimum criterion for transmission capacity and other market development updates in the Nordics and EU.

At the meeting, there were presentations and representatives from the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), the Nordic Transmission System Operators as well as the Nordic Energy Regulators.

The meeting was open for stakeholders and other interested parties.

• The programme can be found here: Agenda 3 December 2019
• The presentations can be found here: NordREG cross-border capacities presentations
• A summary can be found here: Takeaways from meeting 3 December 2019