16.11.2017

Second ACER Report on the implementation of the Balancing Network Code available online

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The Agency publishes today its second Report on the implementation of the Balancing Network Code​, which sheds light on the different features of balancing design. Rules on gas balancing aim at facilitating gas trading across European Union balancing zones and at contributing to the development of short-term markets and their liquidity. Harmonised Union-wide rules on balancing have the objective to create an appropriate environment for network users to manage their balance positions in the different balancing zones of the Union in an economically efficient and comparable way.  

The Report describes the status of the implementation and application of the Code across the EU Member States. The Code is applicable since 1 October 2015. The implementation challenge is greater for those Member States that have not yet enabled short-term markets. 

For its second Report, the Agency developed a new Balancing Analytical Framework to allow effective balancing regime comparison by quantifying the performances for the balancing regimes of National Grid Group (GB-UK), the H-Cal Zone Fluxys (BeLux), NCG (Germany), Energinet.dk (Denmark), GRTgaz Nord (France), Plinovodi (Slovenia) and Enagas (Spain). This year, the Agency has also acquired a better understanding about a broader set of balancing regimes, including the ones most lagging behind (Romania, Bulgaria and Greece). In addition the Report aims to continue the assessment of the various balancing regimes across the EU. In this context, it presents the results of an enhanced review of the country assessments for 26 balancing zones, updated for this year, using the same evaluation framework as last year  Main findings:​ 
  • The implementation of the Code is still patchy: some regimes are in a well-developed stage, while others have made some or no progress at all. NRAs and TSOs should work together with market players to progress the implementation of the Balancing Code by promoting greater access to short-term commercial opportunities, lively trading platforms, and revision of the limited access to transit infrastructures.
     
  • Consumer benefits can only be reaped where markets work effectively. The Agency promotes the use of the Balancing Analytical Framework to assess balancing regime effectiveness and further the evolution of these regimes.
     
  • The Balancing Analytical Framework builds strongly on analysing neutrality, which is a key indicator to understand robust gas accounting and wider regime performance. Another aim of the Balancing Analytical Framework is to make initial steps to understand the underlying relationship between the physical linepack -volume of gas in the system at a given point in time- and commercial imbalances, the latter including both TSO actions and network users imbalances, to help improve the effectiveness of the operational regime.
     
  • The Agency looks forward to acquiring good information for all the indicators used in the Report to enable future monitoring, including better linepack information. The Agency requests that ENTSOG facilitates the usage of the Balancing Analytical Framework and the collection of the relevant data applied by this framework.
Useful Links: 

Balancing page on Network Code and code development

First ACER report and Early Implementation Reports         

First ACER Report on the implementation of the Balancing Network Code on 7 November 2016 

Second ACER-ENTSOG Report on the status of the implementation of the Balancing Network Code on 5 November 2015         

ACER-ENTSOG Report on the early implementation of the Balancing Network Code (BAL NC)​ on 22 October 2014 

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