Mandated by the European Commission, the European Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) submitted its recommendations to the institution aimed at defining the main principles for the development of binding European rules on active participation in energy demand (‘demand response’), on 21 December 2022.
This concept refers to a household or business changing its electricity load from its usual or current consumption profile in response to market signals, including time-dependent changes in electricity prices or financial incentives.
ACER believes that the new rules should aim to stimulate active demand-side participation, including through consumer demand for electricity, storage and distributed generation (e.g. rooftop solar panels and electric vehicles) in wholesale electricity markets, as well as facilitating the market-based supply of balancing, congestion management and voltage regulation services required by grid operators.
In particular, the agency stresses that the new rules should be technology-neutral and non-discriminatory, thus not favouring active demand-side participation and storage at the expense of other resource providers.
The regulators also advocate simplifying the pre-qualification processes for checking compliance of a balancing capacity provider (to keep electricity supply and demand in balance at all times) with the requirements set by transmission system operators, as well as removing barriers to entry for everyone, including consumers with solar panels or electric vehicles, to various services to grid operators.
See the ACER document: https://aeur.eu/f/4sk (Original version in French Damien Genicot)