Electricity Market (Amendment) Regulations, 2016

L.N. 29 of 2016

REGULATOR FOR ENERGY AND WATER SERVICES ACT

(CAP. 545)

Electricity Market (Amendment) Regulations, 2016

IN exercise of the powers conferred by article 37(1) of the

Regulator for Energy and Water Services Act, the Minister for Energy

and Health, after consultation with the Regulator for Energy and

Water Services, has made the following regulations:-

The title of these regulations is the Electricity Market Citation.

(Amendment) Regulations, 2016, and these regulations shall be read

and construed as one with the Electricity Market Regulations, S.L. 545.13

hereinafter referred to as "the principal regulations".

Regulation 2 of the principal regulations shall be amended Amends

regulation 2 of

as follows

the principal

regulations.

(a)

immediately after the definition "integrated

electricity undertaking" there shall be added the following new

definition

" "interconnected system" means a number of

transmission and distribution systems linked together by

means of one or more interconnectors;";

(b)

immediately after the definition "tendering

procedure" there shall be added the following new definition

" "transmission" means the transport of electricity

on the extra high-voltage and high-voltage interconnected

system with a view to its delivery to final customers or to

distributors, but does not include supply;"; and

(c)

immediately after the definition "transmission"

there shall be added the following new definition

" "transmission system operator" means a natural

or legal person responsible for operating, ensuring the

maintenance of and, if necessary, developing the

transmission system in a given area and, where applicable,

its interconnections with other systems, and for ensuring

the long-term ability of the system to meet reasonable

demands for the transmission of electricity;".

Regulation 8 of the principal regulations shall be amended

as follows

(a)

sub-regulation (3) thereof shall be substituted by

the following new sub-regulation

"(3) Customers shall be provided by their

electricity supplier with all relevant consumption data. The

electricity supplier shall include a term in each contract

entered into with a consumer which provides that the

electricity supplier will complete any supplier transfer in

accordance with that contract within twenty-one days. The

rights referred to in this sub-regulation shall be granted to

customers by the electricity supplier in a non-

discriminatory manner and in granting such rights the

electricity supplier shall have regard to costs, effort and

time."; and

(b)

immediately after sub-regulation (7) thereof, there

shall be added the following new sub-regulations

"(8) In order to promote energy efficiency, the

Regulator shall strongly recommend that electricity

undertakings optimise the use of electricity, for example by

providing energy management services, developing

innovative pricing formulas, or introducing intelligent

metering systems or smart grids, where appropriate.

(9) The Regulator shall provide a single point of

contact to provide consumers with all necessary

information concerning their rights, current legislation and

the means of dispute settlement available to them in the

event of a dispute. Such contact point may be part of

general consumer information points, where applicable.

(10) The Regulator shall carry out the function of

an energy ombudsman in order to ensure the efficient

treatment of complaints and out-of-court dispute

settlements.

(11) Where a household customer requests the

electricity supplier to pass on his historic consumption data

and, or premises installation number either to the

household customer or to another electricity supplier or to

any other third party, the electricity supplier shall comply

with that request free of charge as soon as reasonably

practicable

Provided that the customer has either already

expressed consent in the contract with the supplier (upon

signature) authorising the electricity supplier to provide

access to other suppliers, energy service providers or third

parties to his historic consumption data or provides such

written and signed consent when submitting the request for

access to be given to his data.

For the purposes of this sub-regulation "historic

consumption data" means

(a)

except where a household customer

has held his contract for less than twelve months,

the quantity of electricity supplied to the household

customer’s premises during the previous twelve

months; or

(b)

where the household customer has

held his contract for less than twelve months, the

quantity of electricity supplied to the household

customer’s premises during the duration of the

contract.".

Immediately after sub-regulation (3) of regulation 11 of the Amends

principal regulations, there shall be added the following new sub- regulation

the principal

regulations.

The Regulator shall publish all relevant

information relating to the authorisation procedures, including

any criteria on the basis of which the determination by the

Regulator shall be made. In the case of a refusal to grant an

authorisation, the Regulator shall state the reasons for such

refusal, which reasons shall be duly substantiated, well-founded

and based on objective grounds.

(5)

Where the authorisation is refused by the

Regulator, the applicant shall have the right to appeal to the

Administrative Review Tribunal against a decision of the

Regulator in accordance with regulation 30.".

Immediately after regulation 15 of the principal Adds new

regulations to

regulations, there shall be added the following new regulations

the principal

regulations.

B

" Tasks of

Each transmission system operator

transmission

shall be responsible for

system

(a)

ensuring the long-term ability

operators.

of the system to meet reasonable demands

for the transmission of electricity,

operating, maintaining and developing

under economic conditions secure, reliable

and efficient transmission systems with

due regard to the environment;

(b)

ensuring adequate means to

meet service obligations;

(c)

contributing to security of

supply through adequate transmission

capacity and system reliability;

(d)

managing electricity flows on

the system, taking into account exchanges

with other interconnected systems. To that

end, the transmission system operator shall

be responsible for ensuring a secure,

reliable and efficient electricity system

and, in that context, for ensuring the

availability of all necessary ancillary

services, including those provided by

demand response, insofar as such

availability is independent from any other

transmission system with which its system

is interconnected;

(e)

providing to the operator of

any other system with which its system is

interconnected sufficient information to

ensure the secure and efficient operation,

coordinated

development

and

interoperability of the interconnected

system;

(f)

ensuring non-discrimination

as between system users or classes of

system users, particularly in favour of its

related undertakings;

(g)

providing system users with

the information they need for efficient

access to the system; and

(h)

collecting congestion rents

and payments under the inter-transmission

system operator compensation mechanism,

in compliance with Article 13 of

Regulation (EC) No 714/2009, granting

and managing third-party access and

giving reasoned explanations when it

denies such access, which shall be

monitored by the Regulator. In carrying

out their tasks under this regulation

transmission system operators shall

primarily facilitate market integration.

(1)

Without prejudice to the

Dispatching

and balancing.

supply of electricity on the basis of contractual

obligations, including those which derive from

the tendering specifications, the transmission

system operator shall, where it has such a

function, be responsible for dispatching the

generating installations in its area and for

determining the use of interconnectors with

other systems.

(2) The dispatching of generating

installations and the use of interconnectors shall

be determined on the basis of criteria which shall

be approved by the Regulator where competent

and which shall be objective, published and

applied in a non-discriminatory manner, and in

such a way as to ensure the proper functioning of

the internal electricity market. The criteria shall

take into account the economic precedence of

electricity

from

available

generating

installations or interconnector transfers and the

technical constraints on the system.

(3) System operators shall act in

accordance with regulation 25 when dispatching

generating installations using renewable energy

sources. System operators shall also give

priority

when

dispatching

generating

installations producing combined heat and

power.

B

(4) The Regulator may, for reasons of

security of supply, direct that priority be given to

the dispatch of generating installations using

indigenous primary energy fuel sources, to an

extent not exceeding, in any calendar year, 15%

of the overall primary energy necessary to

produce the electricity consumed in Malta.

(5) The

Regulator

shall

require

transmission system operators to comply with

minimum standards for the maintenance and

development of the transmission system,

including interconnection capacity.

(6) Transmission system operators shall

procure the energy they use to cover energy

losses and reserve capacity in their system

according to transparent, non-discriminatory and

market-based procedures, whenever they have

such a function.

(7) Rules adopted by transmission

system operators for balancing the electricity

system shall be objective, transparent and non-

discriminatory, including rules for charging

system users of their networks for energy

imbalance. The terms and conditions, including

the rules and tariffs, for the provision of such

services by transmission system operators shall

be established pursuant to a methodology

compatible with regulation 21(4) in a non-

discriminatory and cost-reflective way and shall

be published.

(1)

Without

prejudice

to

Confidentiality

for

regulation 16 or any other legal duty to disclose

transmission

system

information, each transmission system operator

operators and

and each transmission system owner shall

transmission

system owners.

preserve the confidentiality of commercially

sensitive information obtained in the course of

carrying out its activities, and shall prevent

information about its own activities which may

be commercially advantageous from being

disclosed in a discriminatory manner. In

particular it shall not disclose any commercially

sensitive information to the remaining parts of

the undertaking, unless this is necessary for

carrying out a business transaction. In order to

ensure the full respect of the rules on

information unbundling, the transmission system

owner and the remaining part of the undertaking

shall not use joint services, such as joint legal

services, apart from purely administrative or IT

functions.

(2) Transmission system operators shall

not, in the context of sales or purchases of

electricity by related undertakings, misuse

commercially sensitive information obtained

from third parties in the context of providing or

negotiating access to the system.

(3) Information necessary for effective

competition and the efficient functioning of the

market shall be made public

Provided that such an obligation shall be

without

prejudice

to

preserving

the

confidentiality of commercially sensitive

information.".

6. Sub-regulation (3) of regulation 17 of the principal Amends

regulations shall be substituted by the following new sub-regulation: regulation

the principal

regulations.

"(3)

Electricity undertakings shall, in their internal

accounting, keep separate accounts for each of their generation,

transmission, distribution and supply activities as they would be

required to do if the activities in question were carried out by

separate undertakings, with a view to avoiding discrimination,

cross-subsidisation and distortion of competition. They shall

also keep accounts, which may be consolidated, for other

electricity activities not relating to distribution. Revenue from

ownership of the transmission or distribution system shall be

specified in the accounts. Where appropriate, they shall keep

consolidated accounts for other, non-electricity activities. The

internal accounts shall include a balance sheet and a profit and

loss account for each activity.".

7. Regulation 20 of the principal regulations shall be

amended as follows

(a)

paragraph (f) thereof shall be substituted by the

following new paragraph

"(f) ensuring that system operators and system

users are granted appropriate incentives, in both the short

and the long term, to increase efficiencies in system

performance and foster market integration;"; and

(b)

paragraph (h) thereof shall be substituted by the

following new paragraph

"(h) helping to achieve high standards of universal

and public service in electricity supply, contributing to the

protection of vulnerable customers and contributing to the

compatibility of necessary data exchange processes for

customer switching.".

7. Regulation 21 of the principal regulations shall be

amended as follows

(a)

in paragraph (r) of sub-regulation (1) thereof, for

the words "regional level." there shall be substituted the words

"regional level;", and immediately thereafter there shall be

added the following new paragraphs

"(s) monitoring the level and effectiveness of

market opening and competition at wholesale and retail

levels, including on electricity exchanges, prices for

household customers including prepayment systems,

switching rates, disconnection rates, charges for and the

execution of maintenance services, and complaints by

household customers, as well as any distortion or

restriction of competition, including providing any

relevant information, and bringing any relevant cases to

the relevant competition authorities;

(t) monitoring the occurrence of restrictive

contractual practices, including exclusivity clauses which

may prevent large non-household customers from

contracting simultaneously with more than one supplier or

restrict their choice to do so, and, where appropriate,

informing the national competition authorities of such

practices;

(u) respecting contractual freedom with regard to

interruptible supply contracts and with regard to long-term

contracts provided that they are compatible with

Community law and consistent with Community policies;

(v) publishing recommendations, at least

annually, in relation to compliance of supply prices with

regulation 8, and providing these to the competition

authorities, where appropriate;

(w) contributing to the compatibility of data

exchange processes for the most important market

processes at regional level."; and

(b)

immediately after sub-regulation (12) thereof, there

shall be added the following new sub-regulation

"(13) The Regulator shall ensure that the

appropriate measures are taken, including administrative

action or criminal proceedings in conformity with the law,

against the natural or legal persons responsible where

confidentiality rules imposed by these regulations have not

been respected.".

9. Paragraph (a) of sub-regulation (1) of regulation 25 of the Amends

principal regulations shall be substituted by the following new regulation

the principal

paragraph

regulations.

"(a)

transmission system operators and the distribution

system operator shall wherever technically feasible and with

regard to system stability guarantee the transmission and

distribution of electricity produced from renewable energy

sources;".

10. Regulation 29 of the principal regulations shall be Substitutes

regulation 29 of

substituted by the following new regulation

the principal

regulations.

"29. (1) The Regulator may impose an administrative

fine upon any person who infringes any provision of these

regulations or who fails to comply with any directive or

decision given by the Regulator in ensuring compliance with

these regulations.

(2)

An administrative fine imposed under sub-

regulation (1) shall not exceed one hundred thousand euro

(€100,000) for each contravention and, or six hundred euro

(€600) for each day of non-compliance, from the date of the

decision given by the Regulator

Provided that, in the case of undertakings

(including vertically integrated undertakings) or a body

corporate, a fine of up to ten (10) per centum of the total

turnover concerned in the preceding business year may be

imposed even if such fine results in an amount which exceeds

the threshold provided in this sub-regulation.".

11. Immediately after regulation 29 of the principal

regulations as amended, there shall be added the following new

regulation

" Administra-

The Administrative Review Tribunal

tive Review

established by article 5 of the Administrative

Tribunal.

Justice Act shall be competent to hear and

determine appeals from decisions of the

Regulator made under these regulations. Unless

otherwise provided by law, an appeal from a

decision of the Regulator made under these

regulations shall lie to the Administrative

Review Tribunal in accordance with article 32 of

the Act.".

12. In paragraph (h) of item 1 of the Second Schedule to the

principal regulations, for the words "for that service." there shall be

substituted the words "for that service;", and immediately thereafter

there shall be added the following new paragraphs

"(i)

are not charged for changing supplier;

(j)

receive a final closure account following any

change of electricity supplier no later than six weeks after the

change of supplier has taken place.".

€0.90