Public consultation on the influence of existing bidding zones on electricity markets

The European electricity target model foresees the implementation of efficient and well-functioning integrated electricity market in forward, day-ahead, intraday and balancing timeframe. The Framework Guidelines on Capacity Allocation and Congestion Management (CACM) foresee that integration and efficient functioning of electricity market shall be achieved mainly through efficient capacity calculation and allocation, where capacity calculation also includes defining of bidding zones that aim to maximize the overall market efficiency. While this process has been transposed into draft Network Code on CACM, the question of bidding zones gained urgent attention due to the increasing amount of loop flows in some parts of Europe, which are considered to be a threat to a secure and efficient functioning of the market. 

 

Based on this development and understanding, ACER and NRAs agreed to launch together with the European Network of Transmission System Operations for Electricity (ENTSO-E)  a joint initiative to perform the review the bidding zones based on the process defined in the draft CACM network code. This process has two parts. The first one consists of reporting about existing bidding zones, where TSOs shall prepare a technical report and NRAs shall prepare a market report by the end of 2013. The second part of the process consists of the review of bidding zones, where several bidding zone configurations shall be compared in terms of overall market efficiency. This part shall be performed by TSOs by the end of 2014.

 

This consultation document aims at obtaining the views and opinions of stakeholders on how the existing bidding zones influence the functioning of electricity markets. Its main purpose is to help NRAs and ACER to prepare the market report; however, the outcome of the consultation may also be useful for the review process. Stakeholders are invited to provide their views on how the existing bidding zones influence the functioning of electricity markets and to respond to consultation questions by 30 September 2013. Besides stakeholder organizations, individual stakeholders in different Member States are also invited to respond. More information about the background, the process and how to respond to this consultation can be found in the consultation document.​