Today marks a changing of the guard for the ACER Administrative Board, with Michel Thiollière taking over from Dr Jochen Penker as the Administrative Board Chair.

Mr Thiollière (France) was formerly a Commissioner at the French energy regulatory authority (CRE) and former president of MEDREG.

Jochen Penker has served as Member of the Administrative Board of the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) from 2014 and as Chair for a mandate of two years, from December 2019 until 27 January 2022. The Administrative Board is the governing body of the Agency.

The incoming Administrative Board Chair, Mr Thiollière said:

“I am honoured to take over the lead of the Agency’s Administrative Board at this exciting time of pursuing Europe’s ambitious energy goals”. 

During Dr Penker’s chairmanship of the Administrative Board, ACER’s mandate was extended as a consequence of the 2019 Clean Energy Package (including an increase in work, more decisions and appeals), and Mr Christian Zinglersen was appointed as the new ACER Director.

Welcoming the new Chair and paying tribute to the outgoing Chair, Christian Zinglersen, ACER’s Director said:

“I look forward to working with Mr Thiollière whom I’m sure will show great leadership of the Board like his predecessor. Dr Penker, in chairing the Agency’s Administrative Board, has contributed to ACER’s successes on a number of fronts be it from the smooth Agency-wide work continuity during the pandemic, to helping to redress the Agency’s understaffing, and through to increased visibility about ACER’s added value in the broader context of the European Green Deal. His integrity and expertise have been key in a period where the Agency’s decision-making powers have increased and market integration issues were at stake.”

Today, at his last Administrative Board meeting, Dr Jochen Penker said:

“It has been my honour to serve ACER’s Administrative Board as Chair. These two years have been challenging. We adapted to running meetings online. We managed finally to establish the communication strategy of the Agency, something that has been for far too long in the pipeline. We embraced the new mandates from the Clean Energy Package. We welcomed the new Director. Working together, we helped shape the future of the Agency. ACER is now on a better financial footing for its market monitoring which is key to the integrity of Europe’s wholesale energy markets. It was a journey with a shared goal of contributing to ACER’s success and in setting the scene for a modern green organisation and European authority. We initiated the Greening Action Plan. Today, ACER is a frontrunner in sustainability management among EU Agencies."

ACER’s Director, the other Members of the Administrative Board and the Chair of the Board of Regulators expressed their gratitude to Dr Penker for his hard work over the past two years. They  warmly welcomed the new Chair, Mr Thiollière, congratulated Dr Spiridonovs for his reappointment as Member and welcomed Mr Bartuska as new Member and Ms Čelić (Croatia), Ms Ludwiniak (Poland), and Mr Kaderják (Hungary) as new Alternate Members.

Find out more about the role of the Administrative Board and its Members.

In January 2022, the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) and the European University Institute (EUI) signed a knowledge partnership agreement with the aim of informing the energy policy debate and advancing regulatory thinking in Europe.

Since 2010, ACER and the EUI’s Florence School of Regulation (FSR Energy), hosted within the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSC), have been cooperating on a number of initiatives including policy events, training courses, and development of new research in the field of energy policy and regulation. In this context, ACER experts regularly participate in policy events and contribute to training courses organised by the FSR, bringing direct practical experience in European energy regulation.

“Energy Regulators, particular those based in Europe, are one of the FSR Energy and Climate’s most important stakeholders. The FSR aims at informing the regulatory debate in Europe through its research and policy events and, therefore, having an early insight on the forthcoming issues is essential to maintain its relevance. ACER is thus a key interlocutor.”

Alberto Pototschnig, FSR Energy Deputy Director for Policy Affairs

As the issues facing the energy sector are evolving and becoming more complex in order to achieve the ambitious energy and climate policy targets and accomplish the associated energy transition, the two organisations stand to benefit even more from a close cooperation.

“The energy sector is changing rapidly. Only by adopting a multidisciplinary approach and by engaging with different stakeholders, ACER can stay abreast of the game and contribute to a smooth transition to a low carbon energy system. In this respect, the partnership with FSR Energy is key: it provides a high-quality platform for policy debate and research and allows our staff to access an excellent faculty of global regulatory experts.”

Christian Zinglersen, ACER Director

In the framework of the partnership, the following activities will be co-designed and delivered:

• FSR Training Courses offered to or involving ACER staff;

• Exchange of views on topics of mutual interest;

• Events on a variety of topics and with diverse formats, involving the partners and external stakeholders;

• Research activities on current energy topics; and

• Study visits to ACER for EUI scholars.

On 3 January 2022, the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) received a proposal from the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) regarding the Regional Coordination Centre (RCC) Post-Operation and Post-Disturbances Analysis and Reporting Methodology.

The Electricity Regulation lists the RCCs’ tasks and their roles. Among those tasks, the Regulation mandates the obligation for RCCs to carry out post-operation and post-disturbances analysis. The proposed methodology describes the RCC investigation, explains the data collection process, prescribes the work of the expert panel and guides the RCCs in preparing the post-disturbances report.

What are the next steps?

ACER will reach a decision on the proposal by 3 April 2022.

In order to inform its assessment, ACER invites interested third parties to submit their observations by 31 January 2022 to ACER-ELE-2022-001(at)acer.europa.eu.

Access the ACER Public Notice.

Access the ENTSO-E’s proposal on the RCC Post-Operation and Post-Disturbances Analysis and Reporting Methodology.

ACER publishes today the first Implementation Monitoring Report (the Report) on progress in Member States in implementing the EU-wide Network Code on Electricity Emergency and Restoration.

This Network Code provides the requirements that Transmission System Operators (TSOs) must follow in electricity emergency, blackout and restoration states. If TSOs follow these rules when they face an incident on their grid it helps prevent incidents deteriorating into blackouts and allows for an efficient and rapid restoration of the electricity system to a normal state from the emergency or blackout states.

Key Findings:

ACER finds that while implementation of the electricity grid emergency and restoration rules is well on track (e.g. on regional coordination, on suspension and restoration of market activities and on tools and facilities), there is still not a complete and uniform EU-wide implementation of this legally binding Network Code.  For example, there is still scope to improve:

• Measures of the system defence plan that are to be implemented on the grid.

• Measures of the restoration plans. 

• Assessment of the costs borne by system operators subject to network tariff regulation and stemming from the obligations laid down in the Network Code.

Why is it important to follow the electricity emergency and restoration rules?

A secure and efficient operation of the EU electricity system is a task shared between all the EU.

TSOs since all national systems are, to a certain extent, interconnected and a disturbance in one control area could affect another.

Hence, ACER underlines the importance of a correctly and fully implemented Emergency and Restoration Network Code to prevent the deterioration of an incident in a national system and to avoid the spread of disturbances to other areas and to enable swift restoration of the system back to normal state after a disturbance.

Hence, ACER underlines the importance of a correctly and fully implemented Emergency and Restoration Network Code to prevent the deterioration of an incident in a national system and to avoid the spread of disturbances to other control areas and to enable swift restoration of the system back to normal state after a disturbance.

ACER Recommendations:

ACER urges a prompt implementation of the articles of the Network Code that have already entered into force and invites the relevant NRAs to ensure a timely and complete application of the provisions that will apply as of 2022.

Access the report.

ACER publishes today its second series of reports on the implementation of the European Union Network Code on Harmonised Transmission Tariff Structures for Gas for both transmission systems in Poland: the national transmission system and the SGT pipeline. The latter refers to the Polish section of the Yamal transit pipeline, running from Russia through Belarus and Poland to Western Europe.

Regarding the national transmission system, ACER recommends that the Polish national regulatory authority for energy (URE), further justifies the reference price methodology (RPM) with the requirements of the Tariff Network Code, providing additional transparency regarding the expected use of the network. The Agency also recommends that the NRA provides additional transparency on investment projects. The NRA should also set a fixed entry-exit split or should provide due justification on the conditions that would trigger a change of the split.

Regarding the section of the SGT pipeline within Poland, the Agency recommends that URE further justifies the RPM, including additional clarity on the contracted capacity forecast, the detailed calculation steps of the methodology, and the calculation of the cost allocation assessment.

The Polish NRA shall take both motivated decisions by 31 March 2022.

Find out more and access all ACER reports on national tariff consultation documents.