Sustainable Energy Law Notebook

Les mitt innlegg om innføring av "smarte strømmålere" og hvordan vil forbrukerne reagere i Energi & Klima nettmagasinet: " Norske forbrukere får bedre tid til å venne seg til smarte måele, men hvor aktive og interesserte vil vi være? Siste mandag ble det kunngjort at Norge utsette utrullingen av Avanserte Måle- og Styresystemer (AMS) ... " Les resten av innlegget her:  http://energiogklima.no/nyhetsblogg/banet/smart-strom-trenger-smarte-forbrukere/

Ensuring Implementation Lithuania has now joined 10 other EU Member States that still have not communicated national measures aimed to transpose the provisions of the Electricity Directive 2009/72/EC and the Gas Directive 2009/73/EC under the Third Energy Package . Deadline for full transposition was 3 March 2011 . (Reference: MEMO/13/122 , 21.02.2013) Lithuania received this February a reasoned opinion  which is the second stage in the infringement procedure , after the sending of formal letter. In total, 15 Member States have received a reasoned opinion from the Commission on the matter. 6 of them have been referred to the European Court of Justice, which is the next stage of the infringement proceeding procedure (see press release of 24 January 2013 , announcing that Bulgaria, Estonia and the UK had been referred to the Court by the Commission). For 5 of the original 15, the Commission decided to close the case. The press release from the Commission does not detail...

Next week, on 3 December 2012 , the energy ministers of the EU Member States will hold a Council meeting. The following topics are on the agenda: 1 - adoption of Council conclusions on renewable energy . Based on the Communication "Renewable Energy: a major player in the European energy market" adopted in June 2012, the Council conclusions should set out as priorities:  * the opening of the internal electricity market , and notably: securing market arrangements for the integration of an increasing number of renewable electricity generators; assessing market distortions at national level "in close cooperation" with the Commission services * better market integration of RES , including non-binding guidance from the Commission on support schemes reform, and the phase-out of environmentally and economically harmful subsidies. * cooperation and trade , which cover, on the first hand an extended use of the cooperation mechanisms and with the active help...

The European Commission has announced the adoption of a new communication on the status of the internal energy market for 15 November 2012 .  According to the official information released, the Communication will: - assess the state of the internal energy market , with the politically endorsed goal of its completion by 2014 ; - identify the main forthcoming challenges ; - propose actions to improve the effective application of the third energy package ; - provide updated information on the European electricity and gas market covering the 27 Member States, and, also of particular interest, a description of Member States' investments in energy infrastructure (energy infrastructures having focused much of the efforts of the EU executive during the last two years). Watch the press conference on Thursday 15 on EbS. Picture credits: (C) European Union, 2012.

The French Senate presented on 18 July 2012 a report entitled "The true cost of electricity in order to determine its allocation to the different economic agents" ( Le coût reel de l'electricite afin d'en determiner l'imputation aux differents agents economiques ). A summary of the report will be posted on this blog.

Norges vassdrags- og energidirektoratet (NVE) har publisert den nasjonale varedeklarasjonen for 2011 . Deklarasjonen skal brukes av kraftleverandørene for å informere sine sluttbrukere om opprinnelsen til den elektrisk energi som ble innlevert i det foregående år , i samsvar med § 8-5 Forskrift om måling, avregning og samordnet opptreden ved kraftomsetning of fakturering av netttjenestrer ( Avregningsforskriften ). Det innebærer også at kraftleverandører som vil informerer sine kunder om hvor sin leveranse kommer presis fra kan lage sin egen varedeklarasjon basert på blant annet opprinnelsesgarantier . De andre bør bruke NVEs nasjonal varedeklarasjon. Dette er en viktig virkemiddel for å unngå å regne flere ganger samme type produksjon (såkalt dobbelttelling ), og særlig fornybar produksjon som kan åpne for høyre priser og støtte. Den nasjonale varedeklarasjonen tar som utgangspunkt den norske kraftproduksjonen for 2011 (128,1 TWh totalt) . Inn i den beregner NVE den fo...

On 15 December 2011 , the Nordic Energy Regulations (NordREG) adopted a recommendation (available here ) that requires the provision of one single bill for final electricity customers, putting together electricity supply costs and grid costs . According to the chairman of NordREG Board, Finn Dehlbæk, " One bill instead of two will make life easier for many electricity customers. It also increases the potential for electricity suppliers to compete on equal terms ." One could actually see this development as a step back, as the supplier would be able to offer a single product, and obviously much will depend on the strict observance of the tariffs regulation for network costs, and unbundling rules for not resulting in anti-competitive behaviours . In its press release, NordREG is convinced that a single bill can only reinforce competition in the end-user market. This is also though as an additional tool that contributes to the objective pursued by Nordic E...

Konkurransetilsynet kom slutten av februar med en anbefaling om Statkraft som må sees i sammenheng med en rekke tiltak knyttet til konkurransen i det norske kraftmarkedet . Anbefalingen ble gitt i forbindelse med høringsbrev av 17. desember 2010 fra Olje- og energidepartementet (OED) om en rapport utarbeidet av Eksperutvalget om driften av kraftsystemet (" Flere og riktigere priser - Et mer effektivt kraftsystem "). Konkurransetilsynet pekker på offentlig eierskap som en klar utfordring for konkurransen på engroskraftmarkedet . Statkraft spiller en dominerende rolle på engrosmarkedet . Konkurransetilsynet pekker på her at de offentlige aktørene i markedet 'er vevd sammen i et nett av utbredt direkte og indirekte eierskap mellom selskapene .' Tilsynet understrekker her at ' I tillegg til minoritetseierskap og krysseierskap mellom aktørene, noe som fører til at konsentrasjonen øker ytterligere, er mange av vannkraftverkene eid i felleskap mellom to eller flere s...

EU Member States must transpose the third energy package ( link ) by 3 March 2011 , for most of the provisions contained in: Directive 2009/72/EC on the internal market in electricity , and Directive 2009/73/EC on the internal market in natural gas. The provisions of Regulation (EC) No. 714/2009 on conditions for access to the network for cross-border exchanges in electricity, and of Regulation (EC) No. 715/2009 on conditions for access to the natural gas transmission networks also apply from 3 March 2011. Finally, Articles 5 to 11 of Regulation (EC) No. 713/2009 establishing the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators ( ACER ) apply from 3 March 2011. ACER will be officially inaugurated in Ljubljana, Slovenia , today (see, press release European Commission ). Meanwhile, the European Commissioner for Energy, Günther Oettinger, speaking at the occasion of the Energy Ministers Council on 28 February (see, video press conference ), made clear that 3 March 2011 " is not...

Reversibility: Back to Regulated Tariffs for Small Energy Consumers in France La Loi No.2010-607 du 7 juin 2010 autorisant les petits consommateurs domestiques et non domestiques d'électricité et de gaz naturel à accéder ou à retourner au tarif réglementé est parue au JORF No.130 du 8 juin 2010. Le texte est entré en vigueur ce 9 juin 2010. La Loi porte modification de deux lois: Loi No.2004-803 relative aux services publics de l'électricté et du gaz et aux entreprises électriques et gazières (Art. 30-1 V); Loi No.2005-781 de programme fixant les orientations de la politique énergétique (Art. 66 (V), 66-1, 66-2, 66-3). Ces amendements permettent aux petits consommateurs de prolonger le dispositif de réversibilité qui devait prendre fin au 1 juillet 2010 conformément à la nouvelle organisation du marché de l'électricité.

The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten has published today a test entitled " Hvorfor er det billigere å vaske tøyet om natten? " (" Why is that cheaper to wash your clothes at night? ") , which offers readers the opportunity to test their knowledge about the possibility, procedure and conditions to change of energy provider, the tariff structure of the electricity bill or some support scheme to energy savings in favour of the household sector. This test, which certainly focuses on the Norwegian context (but as part of the EEA Agreement, Norway is implementing the EC energy legislation), underlines a very central issue in the opening of the electricity retail market to competition: final customers do not always have a clear understanding of the rights the full liberalisation of the energy market gave them. Public authorities, in particular under the initiative of regulators, are developing information tools, such as in France the website http://www.energie-info.fr/ . Bu...

Three regulations and two directives implementing the third energy liberalization package were published in the EU Official Journal on 14 August 2009 (L 211). These are: Regulation (EC) No. 713/2009 of 13 July 2009 establishing an Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators; Regulation (EC) No. 714/2009 on conditions for access to the network for cross-border exchanges in electricity (repealing Regulation (EC) No. 1228/2003); Regulation (EC) No. 715/2009 on conditions for access to the natural gas transmission networks (repealing Regulation (EC) No. 1775/2005); Directive 2009/72/EC of 13 July 2009 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity (repealing Directive 2003/54/EC); Directive 2009/73/EC of 13 July 2009 concerning common rules for the internal market in natural gas (repealing Directive 2003/55/EC). I will comment the main changes brought by these texts in a comming message.