ACER urges TSOs and NRAs to complete the implementation of congestion management measures in gas

Two years after the first ACER Implementation Monitoring Report on gas Congestion Management Procedures (CMP), the Agency publishes today an updated Report in which it presents numerous shortcomings and delays in the implementation process. The Agency urges Transmission System Operators (TSOs) and National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) to implement all the remaining actions foreseen in the EU legislation as soon as possible. 

The European Commission (EC) Guidelines on Congestion Management Procedures (CMPs) are binding since October 2013.  The Agency is in charge of monitoring the implementation of the CMP guidelines and the Network Codes. 

The current update shows the most recent implementation status across the EU. Although improvements are visible since 2014, the full implementation was not achieved.     Main findings: 

• CMPs are fully implemented in most Member States except Bulgaria, Italy, Hungary, Portugal, Romania and Spain.
• Actual CMP application was limited in 2015, except at Dutch, German and Austrian interconnection points (IPs).
• A dynamic re-calculation of technical and additional capacity by all TSOs at a higher frequency would contribute to the maximization of the capacity offer.
• The capacity products’ range for the surrender mechanism has to be enlarged in some Member States to be in line with the legal obligations.
• The harmonisation and coordination of CMP applications could be further improved, building on positive practical experiences in terms of coordination, such as those of the South Gas Regional Initiative.
• Transport and CMP data quality and completeness at ENTSOG’s Transparency Platform requires further improvements with the help of TSOs and NRAs.

Focus of the report  ACER’s CMP Implementation Monitoring Report focuses on the formal implementation of each of the respective CMP provisions by Gas Transmission System Operators (TSOs) and National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) in 2015/16. The provisions include the following mechanisms to relieve contractual congestion at interconnection points: 

• Oversubscription and Buy-Back (OS & BB),
• Firm day-ahead Use-It-Or-Lose-It (FDA UIOLI),
• Long-Term Use-It-Or-Lose-It (LT UIOLI), and
• Capacity Surrender.

The Agency also monitors and reports on the actual application of CMPs at European Interconnection Points, based on publicly available data of ENTSOG’s Transparency Platform. This data is also used to calculate certain indicators in order to evaluate the effects of the CMP application.     Links: 

• Access the latest Implementation Monitoring Report on Congestion Management Procedures (Update 2016) here​ 
• Previous edition of the report
• CMP Guidelines

   Background  The Guidelines on Congestion Management Procedures (CMPs) are applicable in the EU as of 1 October 2013. The CMP Guidelines require the implementation of the above-mentioned congestion management procedures and their application at congested interconnection points. They also set out additional transparency requirements for TSOs and ENTSOG (the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas), including the publication of CMP related data on ENTSOG’s Transparency Platform.