The Regulation on Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency (REMIT) provides an EU framework for ensuring the transparency and integrity of energy markets and deters market participants from manipulating the market. It has also an important role in protecting the interests of companies and consumers and ensuring trust in energy markets.

The REMIT Quarterly is ACER’s main channel of communication with stakeholders on REMIT-related matters. It provides updates on quarterly basis.

What are the updates of the 3rd quarter (July – September) of 2023?

This 34th edition releases the programme of the 7th ACER REMIT Forum (5 December, online) and provides insights into the following topics:

• an updated overview of the sanction decisions for the past year, with 364 REMIT cases under review at the moment;
• a fine of €80,000 for non-timely disclosure of inside information relating to the French electricity market;
• statistics for registered reporting mechanisms’ (RRMs’) contingency reports;
• an assessment of trading on organised market places.

Access the 34th issue of REMIT Quarterly.

Access all issues of REMIT Quarterly.

ACER is seeking for applicants to join two new expert groups which will be established to advise and contribute to ACER’s work under REMIT. The expert groups will seek to build on the good experience of previous REMIT expert groups organised by ACER.

The expert group on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency will advise on REMIT surveillance, conduct, integrity, and transparency (including assessing the obligation to disclose inside information); as well as on how other EU legislation, or new technologies, could impact energy trading and the functioning of the internal energy market.

The expert group on wholesale energy market data reporting will contribute to improving data collection, in particular how market participants can better comply with the data reporting requirements foreseen by the regulation.

How to apply?

We are seeking for a diverse group of experts with experience in wholesale energy market integrity and transparency, trading, and reporting of REMIT data. We will also be seeking to ensure representation of the stakeholders impacted by the work of ACER (e.g. market participants, organised markets and other persons professionally arranging transactions, Registered Reporting Mechanisms, Inside Information Platforms, etc.).

To apply, please follow the instructions in the Open Letters and make sure you fulfil all the application criteria.

Deadline to apply is Monday 20 November 2023.

Access the Open Letter on the establishment of an expert group on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency and the Open Letter on the establishment of an expert group on wholesale energy market data reporting.

ACER invites you to the 7th REMIT (Regulation on Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency) Forum – REMIT II: Improving integrity and transparency in wholesale energy markets.

The REMIT Forum is a yearly event bringing together ACER and its stakeholders to discuss the implementation and potential evolution of REMIT, including topics like transaction reporting, data quality, and market surveillance.

When?

On Tuesday 5th December 2023, from 9.00 to 16.30 CET.

Where?

Online.

2023 Forum explores the main changes the REMIT revision would bring

In March 2023, the European Commission proposed to amend the REMIT Regulation. The proposal came as a response to the high energy prices experienced in 2021 – 2022 and aims to align the scope of REMIT with the evolving market dynamics.

2023 REMIT Forum will focus on the main changes this revision would bring, including:

• Expanded scope of data reporting.
• Extension of the scope of REMIT’s market abuse provisions to wholesale energy products that are also financial instruments.
• Harmonization of fines across National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs).
• Reinforced cooperation between energy and financial authorities.
• Strengthened ACER oversight over Registered Reporting Mechanisms (RRMs) and Inside Information Platforms (IIPs) to improve the collection of inside information and market transparency.
• Enhanced role of ACER in complex cross-border cases with a European dimension.
• Permanent extension of ACER’s power on the implementation of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) price assessment and benchmark.

Read more and register to the event.

REMIT (Regulation on Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency) provides an EU framework for the transparency and integrity of energy markets and deters market participants from manipulating the market. It therefore has an important role in protecting the interests of companies and consumers and ensuring trust in energy markets.

What is the REMIT Quarterly?

The REMIT Quarterly is ACER’s main channel of communication with stakeholders on REMIT-related matters, providing updates on ACER’s REMIT activities.

The 33rd edition comes in a new format with an increased content scope and covers the second quarter of 2023, featuring:

• Announcement of the 7th ACER REMIT Forum, taking place on 5 December 2023 (online);
• Analysis of and recommendations on non-intuitive commercial exchanges in Single Day-ahead Coupling (SDAC);
• Statistics for registered reporting mechanisms’ (RRMs’) contingency reports;
• Updated overview of the sanction decisions for the past four quarters, with 372 REMIT cases under review at the end of the second quarter of 2023;
• A brief overview of trading on organised market places in the second quarter of 2023; and
• Other latest REMIT updates.

Access the 33rd issue of REMIT Quarterly.

Access all issues of REMIT Quarterly.

Since 31 March 2023, ACER has been producing and publishing its daily Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) price assessments and benchmarks, as required by Council Regulation (EU) 2022/2576. The Regulation also imposes data reporting obligations on LNG market participants.

ACER regularly reviews the reported data to ensure its consistency with the LNG data reporting requirements. Since the start of LNG data reporting, ACER has observed data quality issues related to:

• Completeness;
• Timeliness; and
• Accuracy of the reported data.

ACER’s Open Letter on LNG market data quality

In its Open Letter on LNG market data quality, ACER highlights the most frequently observed data quality issues and urges LNG market participants to improve the quality of the reported data by:

• Diligently addressing any data quality issues;
• Promptly informing ACER of such issues; and
• Proactively ensuring compliance with the reporting requirements outlined in the ACER’s LNG data reporting guidance.

Good quality of the reported LNG data will enable ACER to more effectively monitor the LNG market for its LNG price assessments and benchmarks.

ACER remains committed to fostering engagement opportunities and information exchange through webinars and other activities to assist interested parties in addressing LNG data quality issues.

Access the ACER's Open Letter on LNG data quality.

The Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Authority (MEKH) issued a decision on 2 June 2023, wherein it found that Prvo Plinarsko Društvo d.o.o. (PPD) has engaged in market manipulation on the natural gas market during one of the rolling monthly capacity auctions, breaching Article 5 of the EU Regulation on Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency (REMIT). MEKH has fined PPD HUF 500,000,000 (approximately EUR 1.4 million).

MEKH's investigation revealed that PPD, in an “ascending clock auction”, manipulated the natural gas market during the rolling monthly capacity auction, held from 17 to 26 January 2022 on the capacity product for the Austria to Hungary interconnection point for February 2022.

According to MEKH’s decision, PPD’s bidding behaviour was manipulative by maintaining its bids for almost the whole amount of the offered capacity for thirty-six bidding rounds of the auction and then leaving the auction without capacity booking, raising the clearing price for the other market participants in the auction up to four and a half times of the reserve price. PPD’s bidding behaviour gave misleading signals to the market as to the demand of the wholesale energy product in question and secured the price of the implicated wholesale energy product at an artificial level.

On 5 July 2023, PPD submitted a claim for administrative action against the decision of MEKH. The judicial review will be carried out by the administrative court.

ACER welcomes MEKH initiative to pursue this wholesale energy market manipulation behaviour.

Access the full text of MEKH’s decision and MEKH’s press release (in HU).

See the latest table of REMIT breach sanction decisions adopted by national regulatory authorities. 

This latest fine (approx. EUR 1.4 million) is the biggest imposed by MEKH to date.

Check the ACER’s Guidance on REMIT (6th edition) for more information on the types of trading practices which could constitute market manipulation under REMIT.

Additional material on enforcement decisions under REMIT is accessible in the REMIT Quarterly reports that ACER publishes each quarter.

ACER publishes today the 32nd edition of its REMIT Quarterly.

What is the REMIT Quarterly?

The REMIT Quarterly is ACER’s main channel of communication with stakeholders on REMIT-related matters, providing updates on ACER’s REMIT activities.

REMIT (Regulation on Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency) provides an EU framework for the transparency and integrity of energy markets and deters market participants from manipulating the market. It therefore has an important role in protecting the interests of companies and consumers, and ensuring trust in energy markets.

The 32nd edition of the Quarterly has an improved format and wider scope. It covers the first quarter of 2023 and features:

• Cross-border capacity hoarding;
• A summary of the European Commission’s proposals for amending REMIT;
• A report on the potentially distortive use of cross-border wash trades in Single Intraday Coupling (SIDC);
• The statistics for registered reporting mechanisms’ (RRMs’) contingency reports;
• An updated overview of the sanction decisions for the past four quarters, with 364 REMIT cases under review at the end of the first quarter;
• A brief overview of trading on organised market places in the first quarter; and
• Other latest REMIT updates.

Access the 32nd issue of REMIT Quarterly.

Access all issues of REMIT Quarterly.

ACER published today the updated electronic format for the reporting of primary and secondary capacity allocations for gas in accordance with Table 4 of the 2014 Commission Implementing Regulation on data reporting.

The new version of the electronic format for the reporting of Table 4 transactions implements:

• Selected improvements gathered from the 2017 Public Consultation on the Revision of electronic formats for transaction data, fundamental data and inside information reporting;
• Changes required for the alignment of the electronic format with the Transaction Reporting User Manual (TRUM); and
• Changes to the XSD file, which now contains reference annotations to data fields in the TRUM.

The new version is available via REMIT Reporting Guidance page: Annex V.IV to the Manual of Procedures (MoP) on Data Reporting.

Updated guidance documents on REMIT transaction reporting

To reflect the new electronic format and to facilitate the reporting of contracts for the transportation of natural gas under the Regulation on Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency (REMIT), the following guidance documents on REMIT transaction reporting were also updated:

• Annex III.IV to the MoP on Data Reporting (Data fields for gas transportation data reporting);
• Annex V.IV to the MoP on Data Reporting (XML Schema for Gas Transportation Contracts);
• Chapter 7 of the TRUM v5.2;
• Chapter 4 of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on REMIT transaction reporting;
• ACER REMIT Information System (ARIS) Data Validation Document; and
• ARIS Data Validation Rules Configuration Document.

All updated documents are available on the ACER website. The TRUM and the FAQs on transaction reporting are also available in the REMIT Knowledge Base.

Reporting parties are expected to comply with the updated electronic format and transaction reporting guidance within six months of their publication (i.e. by 17 October 2023 at the latest). The older version will be retired at the same time.

ACER thanks all stakeholders who tested the new electronic format and provided their feedback.

ACER and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and have signed an updated Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which strengthens collaboration between the two institutions. The MoU notably incorporates new cooperation areas under the Market Correction Mechanism (MCM) Regulation and benchmarks related to the energy sector. It also details the role of the recently established ACER–ESMA Task Force.

ACER and ESMA will continue to cooperate in relation to Regulation of wholesale energy markets, which encompass both energy derivatives and spot markets. The cooperation will primarily be achieved through on-going consultations, exchange of information and cross-participation in joint meetings of working groups and task forces.

Main areas covered by the MoU

• Coordinated and consistent approach to market abuse framework under the Regulation on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency and the Market Abuse Regulation to further enhance market integrity in energy and energy derivative markets;
• Technical cooperation on data and knowledge with respect to the functioning of energy and energy derivative markets; and
• LNG price assessments and benchmarks administered by ACER and other energy-related benchmarks relevant for ACER's or ESMA's mandates.

Background

ACER and ESMA have a long-established cooperative relationship. The first MoU was signed in July 2013.

In October 2022, in the context of the energy crisis, ACER and ESMA enhanced their efforts to strengthen oversight of energy and energy derivative markets. They launched the idea of a joint ACER–ESMA Task Force and highlighted possible areas of cooperation. More here.

ACER and ESMA published preliminary data reports concerning the adoption of the EU Regulation establishing an MCM to protect Union citizens and the economy against excessively high prices in January 2023. See ACER report here and ESMA report here. The provisions governing the MCM started applying on 15 February 2023.

Both agencies released on 1 March their respective Effects Assessments. See ACER report here and ESMA report here.

REMIT (Regulation on Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency) provides the EU framework for the transparency and integrity of energy markets and deters market participants from manipulating the market. Thus, it has an important role in protecting the interests of companies and consumers and ensuring trust in energy markets.

What is the REMIT Quarterly?

The REMIT Quarterly is ACER’s main channel of communication with stakeholders on REMIT-related matters, providing updates on ACER’s REMIT activities.

The 31st edition covers the last quarter of 2022 and features:

• An assessment of the operation and transparency of different categories of organised market places and ways of trading, detailing market participants’ activity and the trends in REMIT data reporting and data collection;
• The statistics for registered reporting mechanisms’ (RRMs') contingency reports;
• An updated overview of the sanction decisions for the year 2022, with 350 REMIT cases under review at the end of the fourth quarter; and
• A summary of the most recent updates of REMIT documents.

Find out more.