26 October 2017 Nordic national regulators (NRAs) met in Stockholm to discuss monitoring of the Nordic retail markets. National cases were presented and the overall conclusion was that NRAs faces similar challenges and therefore can benefit from sharing experience with each other.

The workshop was arranged by NordREGs Retail Market Working Group (RMWG) that today have published the following conclusions:

Nordic NRAs should encourage customers to compare more than price

Ranking electricity offers based on other components, rather than price, are becoming more important on the national comparison tools. This was confirmed by most NRAs as the share of customer complaints regarding binding time, time of notice etc. is increasing.

• All NRAs in NordREG should work actively to encourage customers to compare not only price, but also other terms of contract, before signing a supplier contract.

Enhanced collaboration between different national authorities is necessary

Regulation of issues related to the electricity retail market, contractual terms and consumer rights are split between several national authorities. Enhanced collaboration between authorities within a country as well as between countries would be necessary and most beneficial.

• All NRAs in NordREG should map common situations where unfair selling methods put electricity customers in a vulnerable situation in order to be able to advice customers how to act or which agency or public body to turn to for help.

It is important that EU-directives are interpreted in a similar way in Nordic countries

There are differences among the Nordic NRAs in how to interpret EU-Directives.

• NordREG believes that on a future Nordic retail market it is important that EU-directives are interpreted in a similar way in all countries. Differences of importance should be identified and discussed on a regular basis.

It is important that customers understand how the price is set

Suppliers offering contracts with arbitrary or no price setting mechanism are a problem in all Nordic countries. Some cases show that customers are either misinformed or not informed at all about how the price is set and how it may vary.

• NordREG believes that it is of outmost importance that customers are able to understand and foresee how the price of their supplier contract is set, and that the NRAs in NordREG monitor suppliers that do not follow national regulation on this issue.

NordREG has published a position paper on the development of competition among NEMOs as input to the process carried out by the Commission pursuant to Article 5 (3) of Regulation 2015/1222 (CACM GL).

Based on experiences from the implementation of CACM GL, NordREG sees a need for a clearer division between natural monopoly functions and functions/tasks that can be provided by competitive companies. The lack of separation results in costly and complex regulation in addition to reduced competitive pressure on NEMOs.

• NordREGs perspective on the development of competition among NEMOs

In end November 2017, NordREG published a position paper on the development of local intraday markets. NordREG is concerned about developments in local intraday markets falling outside the scope of CACM GL and “under the radar” of European legislation. As a consequence, the trade taking place in local intraday markets may have negative implications on the success of the cross-zonal intraday solution in CACM GL. Furthermore, it undermines level playing field among NEMOs. The position paper was communicated to the European Commission (DG ENER) and ACER.

• NordREG Position paper Local intraday markets: A potential adverse effect on competition

The Nordic national regulatory authorities (“Nordic NRAs”) are launching a consultation on the methodology for capacity calculation 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 calculation 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 before the 26th of October 2017. Comments shall be sent to post@energitilsynet.dk with copy to slrs@energitilsynet.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

Jarno Lamponen, EV jarno.lamponen@energiavirasto.fi

Tobias Johansson, Ei tobias.johansson@ei.se

Søren Lorenz Søndergaard, DERA slrs@energitilsynet.dk

The Nordic national regulatory authorities (“Nordic NRAs”) are launching a consultation on the methodology for pricing intraday cross-zonal capacity developed by all TSOs in EU in accordance with Article 55 (3) of Commission Regulation (EU) 2015/1222 of 24 July 2015 establishing a guideline on capacity calculation and congestion management (“CACM Regulation”).

• Methodology for pricing intraday cross-zonal capacity
• Explanatory document

The Nordic NRAs will assess and evaluate the proposal in cooperation with the other NRAs in EU for approval by “all-NRAs” 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 before the 6^th of October 2017. Comments (in English) shall be sent to post@energitilsynet.dk with copy to slrs@energitilsynet.dk  Please mark your answers to the consultation with the following reference: Methodology for pricing intraday cross-zonal capacity.

Contact persons in NordREG

Johan Leymann, Ei johan.leymann@ei.se

Mari Salo, EV mari.salo@energiavirasto.fi

Kristin Kolseth, NVE krk@nve.no

Søren Lorenz Rask Søndergaard, DERA slrs@energitilsynet.dk

The Nordic national regulatory authorities (“Nordic NRAs”) are launching a consultation on the all TSOs’ of the Nordic Capacity Calculation Region Proposal for Fallback Procedures in accordance with Article 44 of Commission Regulation (EU) 2015/1222 of 24 July 2015 establishing a guideline on capacity calculation and congestion management (“CACM Regulation”).

• Proposal for Fallback procedures in CCR Nordic
• Explanatory document for CCR Nordic

The proposal covers fallback procedures in the Nordic capacity calculation region.

The Nordic NRAs welcome written input on the proposed Fallback Procedures in the Nordic Capacity Calculation Region within the 9th of June 2017. Comments (in English) shall be sent to post@energitilsynet.dk with copy to kblp@energitilsynet.dk. Please mark your answers to the consultation with the following reference: CCR Nordic Fallback Procedures

Contact persons in NordREG

Linda Weman Tell, Ei
linda.weman.tell@ei.se

Mari Salo, EV
mailto:mari.salo@energiavirasto.fi

Helena Mellison Lindstad, NVE
hem@nve.no

Kimmie Byriel Laage-Petersen, DERA
mailto:kblp@energitilsynet.dk

The Nordic national regulatory authorities (“Nordic NRAs”) are launching a consultation on proposed shipping arrangements for the Nordic bidding zones.

• Shipping arrangements for Nordic bidding zones (2015-05-15)

The Nordic NRAs were informed in December 2016 by EPEX SPOT SE and Nord Pool AS that they could not decide on shipping arrangements for the Nordic region. The Nordic NRAs have therefore initiated the process of deciding on shipping arrangements in accordance with article 68(6) in Regulation (EU) 2015/1222 establishing a guideline on capacity calculation and congestion management (“CACM Regulation”).

The Nordic NRAs welcome written input on the proposed shipping arrangements within the 9th of June 2017. Comments (in English) shall be sent to registrator@ei.se. Please mark your answers to the consultation with the following reference number 2017-100343.

Contact persons in NordREG

Linda Weman Tell, Ei
linda.weman.tell@ei.se

Kimmie Byriel Laage-Petersen, DERA
KBLP@energitilsynet.dk

Mari Salo, EV
mari.salo@energiavirasto.fi

Helena Mellison Lindstad, NVE
hem@nve.no

On Thursday 7 April the NordREG Network Regulation Working Group organised a seminar on how to reduce losses in the Nordic networks.

The workshop included presentations both by regulators and DSOs, who discussed how loss reductions can be incentivised through regulation and what DSO’s can do practically to reduce their own losses. There was also a European perspective with a presentation about ongoing work on benchmarking network losses throughout Europe.

All presentations can be found here:

1. Network losses in the regulation – Denmark

2. Network losses in the regulation – Iceland

3. Network losses in the regulation – Sweden

4. Network losses in the regulation – Finland

5. Network losses in the regulation – Norway

6. Preliminary findings from CEER Report on network losses

7. A DSOs perspective on network losses – Skagerak Nett

8. The effect of renewables, How to address increased network losses – Dansk Energi

NordREG publishes today a paper presenting the Nordic energy regulators’ views on the European Commission’s proposals on aggregation services and demand response, as seen in the legislative package “Clean Energy for all Europeans”.

By this, NordREG aims at assisting Member States and EU institutions in improving the proposals for a revised Electricity Directive, to better reach the important objectives of efficient demand response for all Europeans.

NordREG has several concerns with the European Commission’s “one-size-fits all” approach to aggregation, as proposed in the revised Electricity Directive, and fears it could lead to system-wide inefficiencies. NordREG therefore recommends discretion to decide if, and in which situations, a regulated framework for independent aggregation may be efficient to implement. Further, NordREG recommends flexibility to define the details, if models for independent aggregation are chosen in specific parts of the market.

• NordREG response to Clean Energy for all Europeans – Aggregation services and demand response

Today, NordREG, a cooperation between Nordic energy regulators, publish a report that describes the customers’ situation in the five Nordic retail markets for electricity. The report shows what offers, prices and problems customers face in each of the markets. National data is presented together with statistics on complaints from customers and the results from the European Commission´s survey Consumer Markets Scoreboard.

Electricity customers in all Nordic countries, except Iceland, have a wide range of contracts and suppliers to choose from and are relatively active. They all have access to independent price comparison tools and have a clear economic incentive to switch supplier or renegotiate contracts with the current supplier.

Few customers complain about the switching process itself. Instead, problems customers experience are typically when they have misunderstood the terms of the contract or there has been an unfair selling process. Many customers contact the national regulators to question if a contractual change is legal or if the supplier has provided them with all the required information before entering into a new contract.

So far, only Denmark has implemented mandatory combined billing, were the supplier bills the customer for both the electricity and network fee in one bill. However, all countries have regulations concerning billing and information required on invoices. Still, when customers were asked how well they understood their bill, the results varied between the Nordic countries.

Retail prices in Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden are characterised by a close connection to the underlying common Nordic electricity wholesale market. Different kinds of spot price contracts settled against wholesale markets are the most common and, on average, the cheapest contract types. In the last five years, Customers in Norway and Sweden have experienced more price changes than customers in Finland. At the same time, prices seems to be higher in Finland than, for example, Norway.

• Status Report Retail Markets
• Status Report Retail Markets – Annex

 

For more information, please contact:

Mattias Johansson, Energimarknadsinspektionen, +46 16-16 27 42
Cathrine Hagen, Norges vassdrags- og energidirektorat, +47 22 95 95 95
Jori Säntti, Energiavirasto, +358 29 50 50 079
Lukas Lindgreen, Energitilsynet, +45 41 71 43 12
Rakel Jensdóttir, Orkustofnun, +354 569 6000

Facts about NordREG: Since 2005 NordREG has worked towards a harmonised retail market for electricity. Many important steps have been taken. However, the common objective is not yet achieved. The Nordic countries still have five separate Retail markets with many similarities and some differences. In recent years, NordREG has focused on establishing joint recommendations in order to achieve a harmonised Nordic retail market for electricity.