This report highlights experiences from the recent energy crisis that can serve as a guide for Energy Regulators Regional Association (ERRA) member countries’ preparation for and responses to future crises.

Drawing on examples from a wide range of countries, with different energy markets and systems, the report provides:

• An overview of short-term policy and regulatory measures adopted to address the crisis (mostly to support access to affordable energy) and lessons that emerge from these;
• In the context of evolving energy supply and market paradigms, consideration of longer-term policies and measures, including for electricity market design.

Guarantees of origin (GOs) are one of the key tools for greening the energy sector and contributing to the transition to net-zero energy. The basic idea of a system of GOs is based on the physical fact that once the energy produced is delivered to the electricity, gas, or heat system, its origin can no longer be distinguished. In order to support the installation and efficient operation of various renewable energy technologies, the members of the ERRA Renewable Energy Committee have undertaken the task of mapping the existence of GOs schemes.

We now publish our latest internal survey results on Guarantees of Origin Systems, prepared based on information received from 20 ERRA-member countries. 

The Netherlands is faced with the challenge of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. This challenge requires substantial efforts from network operators and has prompted the energy regulator ACM to take a critical look at the way it organizes the regulation of network operators. It is important to obtain, at an early stage, an accurate picture of both, the bottlenecks and the opportunities with regard to the energy transition, arising from the regulation of network operators. In this regard, insights into the regulation of network operators in other European countries can be of great value. ACM has commissioned DNV Energy Systems (“DNV”) to obtain the insights.

The purpose of the study is to gather inspiration for instruments and new insights which could be considered in the Netherlands.

This is done by reviewing the main characteristics and effectiveness of the instruments used in the economic regulation of electricity transmission and distribution networks in selected countries. The list of countries is Belgium, Germany, Finland, Italy and Great Britain (main sample); and Norway, Australia and Emirate of Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) (extended sample). Building on the findings from the analysis, we assess the applicability of regulatory instruments for the regulatory arrangements in the Netherlands.

The analysis reviews major properties of the regulatory instruments in the investigated countries. The instruments are grouped in the following regulatory areas: price regulation methods, OPEX and CAPEX classification, assessment methods, efficiency incentives, investment incentives, innovation incentives, supplementary incentives, forward-looking estimations, dealing with uncertainty and new thinking / new concepts.

ACER, in collaboration with PwC consultants, publishes its second report on unit investment costs indicators. In addition, ACER publishes an energy infrastructure unit investment cost calculator, in Excel format, to facilitate future estimations of unit investment costs.

• the analytical methodology employed;
• the consultation process with stakeholders;
• the statistics for the collected data;
• reference unit investment costs values for most common energy infrastructure;
• projected reference cost values for different emerging energy infrastructure assets such as  large-scale electrolysers, electric batteries, hydrogen pipelines, and carbon dioxide pipelines; and
• a comparison with 2015 unit investment costs figures.

1. with Mr. Simon Shutinoski, Chief Executive Officer of the National Electricity Market Operator MEMO, which operates the exchange,
2. with Mr. Marko Bislimoski, President of the Energy and Water Services Regulatory Commission of North Macedonia, who approved the trading rules.

• Exclusive interview with Mr. Luca Lo Schiavo Deputy Director of the Infrastructure Regulation Department at the Italian Regulatory Authority for Energy (ARERA).
• Valuable insights from 17 member regulators regarding the diverse range of projects and ongoing developments in Energy Transition.
• Updates regarding the recent Energy Transition Activities within ERRA. 

The following report is the new addition to the Status Quo Report on Deregulation of Electricity Markets in 17 ERRA Member Countries published by the ERRA Secretariat in March 2022. It follows up with the previous report by the members of the ERRA Electricity Markets and Economic Regulation Committee (EMER COM) with the current developments in the electricity sector, and how the energy crisis impacted the deregulating electricity market within these countries from March 2022.

• Overview of the impacts of the energy crisis;
• Overview of the degrees of electricity market deregulation;
• Wholesale electricity market structure – supply and demand, unbundling, organized markets (DAM, IDA, BM, OTC);
• Financial instruments;
• Cross Border Trade;
• Balancing and Ancillary services;
• Existing public service obligation schemes.

The ERRA Glossary of Energy Transition Terms comprises about 150 practical definitions referring to energy transition and climate change. The resource was compiled by ERRA Energy Transition Task Force. 

Beyond the short-term issues, the energy crisis in Europe raises long-term questions that are disrupting the organisation of the electricity markets: security of supply, price levels and volatility, investments in the energy transition, costs for consumers, etc. CRE France held its Symposium in December 2022 on this topic and the speakers/ group of academics completed a report with a review of the academic literature on the issues of the reform of the European electricity market.

Energie-Control Austria, the Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Authority (MEKH) have contracted a consultant to develop the Household Energy Price Index for Europe (HEPI) in order to track energy prices.

HEPI provides granular insight into current and historical European residential energy prices in 33 European capital cities on a monthly basis starting from January 2009. 

The Story describes the Index with a methodology note and provides an interview with Mr Johannes Mayer, Director for Regulation and Competition at E-Control, who describes project background, synergies stemming from the cooperation with MEKH as well as project outputs and outcomes.

In this 7th Benchmarking Report on the Quality of Electricity and Gas Supply, for the first time jointly written by CEER and the Energy Community Regulatory Board (ECRB), the main focus is on monitoring of the quality of electricity and gas supply, which constitutes an essential tool in the overall supervision of well-functioning energy markets. CEER and ECRB seek to provide valuable information on the practices regarding quality of supply and the regulatory framework, with associated recommendations for good regulatory practices and incentives that could be adopted in Europe.

A few findings to highlight include that, excluding exceptional events, the majority of countries decreased or at least maintained their unplanned minutes lost and the number of interruptions per customer from the beginning to the end of the observed period for electricity. Interruptions in gas, while much less common than those in electricity, can lead to a high risk of safety, resulting in greater efforts to avoid an interruption than in electricity. Even though gas interruptions are less frequent, they usually last longer than those in electricity. Many countries reported improved continuity of supply (a shorter duration or a lower number of interruptions) when incentive regimes/compensation schemes were implemented, even with indicators that are not regulated.

The summary report contains all takeaways from the workshop ERRA held with MEDREG on December 6th, 2022 in Istanbul with the main focus on regulatory sandboxes.

• Regulatory sandbox is a learning process where current regulatory framework is deviated through #regulatoryexperiments in order to take the pace with the faster developing areas like technology and innovations,
•  To adapt to the ongoing transition, the value-added projects for the energy system should be recognised, regulators should be innovative and open the regulatory frameworks for derogations, exemptions, pilot projects,
•  Regulators can be the drivers of the project or can also be the ones to evaluate the projects of the network operators or the market participants,
• In the light of the experience of the regulators who are implementing Regulatory Sandboxes, the most important and critical point is the output, so the project whose benefits overweigh the costs of the project should be recognised.

This companion piece to the Fall 2022 ECA Economic Update (World Bank 2022c) provides an overview of the policy options available to ECA countries to respond to the energy price shock and examines how this crisis could harness the clean energy transition to enhance collective energy security. The options to support energy markets, vulnerable households, and firms will vary, depending on specific country contexts, including exposure to gas and electricity supply risks and the fiscal space available to mitigate their impact. Well-coordinated and calibrated fiscal and monetary policies are needed to manage the impact of the price shock. Countries will also need to consider the implications of any policy choice on the transition to a greener economy and development trajectories.

• Section 2 provides an overview of the broader economic impact of the energy price shock on economic growth, inflation, and public finances in the ECA region.
• Section 3 provides policy options to help countries adapt to the energy crisis related to managing both demand and supply.
• Section 4 presents a set of principles to guide the policy response for supporting vulnerable households.
• Section 5 presents a set of principles to guide the policy response for supporting firms.
• Section 6 concludes with a summary of recommendations for dealing with the crisis and transitioning to a greener economy.

Europe has recently confirmed and augmented its commitment towards full decarbonization through the EU Green Deal and the Fit for 55 package. Energy policy struggles to keep up with technical and business novelties, often constituting an obstacle for technological innovation. Regulatory sandboxes and pilot projects have recently played a central role in the policy strategy adopted by many countries, but a common framework is still missing. In this work, moving from the approaches adopted by Ofgem in Great Britain and Arera in Italy, a list of experimental dimensions is firstly proposed, and the most important trialling experiences individuated worldwide are mapped on it. Therefore, clustering these experiences based on their characteristics, a reference taxonomy to design and classify regulatory experiments is proposed. In parallel, topics addressed within trials are described and mapped on the main challenges posed by EU Green Deal targets on the power system. The analysis highlights that there is no one-size-fits-all approach towards regulatory experimentation, and that effort is needed to ensure coordinated initiatives within and among European countries, in order to timely achieve a netzero energy system in the most effective way.

ERRA Renewable Committee's survey: E-Mobility: Status Update, Plans and Related Regulatory Issues. The recent increase in energy costs increases the need for smart integration of EVs into power grids to lower the cost for EV users and service providers. EVs have been on the radar of energy regulators for quite some time, that is why ERRA regularly monitors developments with regards to e-mobility regulations among its members.  The internal survey results on E-mobility, prepared based on information collected from 17 ERRA Renewable Committee Members. 

Review and executive summary by Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP).

Based on the latest energy data and market developments, this year’s WEO explores key questions about the first global energy crisis: Will it be a setback for clean energy transitions or a catalyst for greater action? How might government responses shape energy markets? Which energy security risks lie ahead on the path to net zero emissions?

This flagship publication of the IEA has appeared every year since 1998. Its objective data and dispassionate analysis provide critical insights into global energy supply and demand in different scenarios and the implications for energy security, climate targets and economic development.

ERRA continues to update its concise Glossary of energy sector terms specific to the energy regulatory community. Great stuff for entry level regulators!