Brussels, 30/01/2008 (Agence Europe) - Eight member states opposed to radical liberalisation of internal energy market through ownership unbundling of energy operators' activities (production/supply and transport/network) or ISO option (EUROPE 9505) sent a letter containing their “third way” (EUROPE 9556 and 9560) addressed to the Slovenian presidency of the Council of the EU and the European Commission on Wednesday 30 January. In a letter addressed to the Slovenian minister of the economy and the president of the energy council, Andrej Vizjak and the energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs (of which EUROPE obtained a copy, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Latvia, Luxembourg and Slovakia, which constitute a minority block in the event of qualified majority voting at the Council and reaffirmed their opposition to unbundling. They insisted that, “neither the impact assessment, nor the policy debate of the last months have been able to dissipate their serious concerns already expressed…and therefore we remain firmly opposed to this measure”. They consider that unbundling beaches constitutional law and the free movement of capital. These 8 member states also believe that, “vertically integrated energy groups are not an obstacle in the single energy market as proved by the successful experience of the pentalateral energy forum in which the three signatory member states participated” (Germany, France and Luxembourg). They also believe that as well as the negative social consequences of unbundling, the latter did not constitute a suitable tool to ensure a sufficient degree of investment in infrastructure as sought by the Commission. The 8 member states are also opposed to the alternative option of the Independent System Operator (ISO). They believe that this is more flexible but unbundling dressed up and would authorise vertically integrated groups to keep ownership of their infrastructure while constraining them, in exchange for remuneration by third end users and conferring the piloting of the scheme to an ISO.
Through a third option, they are therefore proposing the effective unbundling of energy operators' activities demanded by the European Council in March 2007 to be done through a network of regulators guaranteeing free access to infrastructure and independence of investment decisions.
Annexed to their letter, the proposals is entitled, “effective and efficient unbundling” (EEU) and takes the form of an amendment to the draft directive amending directive 2003/54/EC on common rules for the internal electricity market. However, it is devised for meeting the specificities of the two sectors (electricity and gas: Ed), explains the letter. The EEU proposal is “should therefore be adapted mutatis mutandis” to the draft directive for amending directive 2003/55/EC on the common gas market. According to the 8 member states opposed to radical liberalisation, their proposal would be better at ensuring competition while increasing investment to provide the EU with necessary capacity.
The EEU proposal is based on two pillars: organisation and governance of the body guaranteeing efficient independence of the transition systems operator (TSO). The provisions under this pillar tackle questions of capital, personnel, financial resources and the identity of the TSO, which is clearly different from the parent company, the ethics applied to its management in an effort to ensure its independence via producer/supplier companies and to the regulators, monitors the non-discriminatory behaviour of the TSO. The letter underlines that, “Many of these provisions impact the very structure of the vertically integrated undertaking. They clearly go much further than the legal unbundling provisions set by the second internal market package. They impose strict obligations, that have to be consequently implemented and monitored by compliance officer and public authority”. As well as these provisions, the EEU proposal makes any clause aiming to limit investment from third country operators useless and creates, “legal certainty for both state and private companies”; - grid investments, market integration and connection of new power plants. To ensure sufficient investment to allow the interconnection of markets, an indicative 10-year network development plan must be adopted at national level. If this plan is not complied with, the regulatory authority will have the power to require the TSO to realise the necessary investment or to organise a tender for third investors, with TSOs, thus, losing their discriminatory powers in this respect. To foster cooperation between countries, a regional coordinator will be appointed and new power plants will be given the guarantee that they will be connected to the grid on a precise date. With regard to market integration, the “EEU” proposal provides for bolstering regional cooperation with the possibility of the appointment of a regional coordinator in charge of facilitating dialogue between all national competent authorities, TSOs and power exchanges. (E.H.)