On November 27, 2019 a public consultation was held on a draft amendment to the Electricity Trading Rules (ETR). The draft rules and a report of the Commission’s working group is published on the web site of EWRC:
The discussion was attended by representatives of ESO EAD, NEK EAD, electricity distribution and electricity supply companies, the Association of Traders with Electricity in Bulgaria, the Free Energy Market Association, the Bulgarian Wind Energy Association and the Bulgarian Photovoltaic Association.
The adoption of the amendments to the ETR is a result of the amendments to the Energy Act, which outline the new stage of liberalization of the electricity market. The proposed amendments create the necessary regulatory prerequisites for the organized power market and the balancing market to actually engage generators of RES and CHP a total installed electrical capacity of 1 MW to 4 MW. Clear rules and conditions for the participation of these generators on the power exchange have been laid down, with the aim of significantly preventing the possibility of abuse. In this regard, reorganization of the operations on the balancing market and in particular the structure and composition of the balancing groups, the possibility of merging balancing groups, as well as the activities of the balancing group coordinators is required, states the report of the working group.
Changes in ETR also result from the need to introduce other energy storage facilities besides hydro pump storage. This is necessary given the lack of regulation and the expected recent developments of storage technologies. The ETR draft creates new texts giving EWRC the power to approve the operational rules of IBEX.
The amendments in ETR also clarify the terms and conditions for changing the electricity supplier and balancing group coordinator, as well as the rules for supplier of last resort. The provisions concerning the structure of the different types of balancing groups have also been specified. It is also envisaged to improve the texts related to the purchase of technological losses through the power exchange.
The proposals for the introduction of the concept of “aggregator of a group of sites” regulate the legal situation, as well as the rights and obligations of this commercial participant as a provider of quick (minute) and slow (cold) balancing services.
In their speeches, the participants in the public consultation made proposals related to the concept of “aggregator of a group of sites” introduced in the draft as a new commercial participant, a request by EWRC to approve not only the IBEX rules, but also its tariffs, as well as the Rules for conducting auctions for cold reserve.
Responding to the questions raised during the discussion, experts from the working group said that the regulator is not legally able to approve the tariffs applied by the IBEX, and the introduction of some new definitions is a result of the transpose of European regulations in national legislation. It was also clarified that EWRC would adopt IBEX rules after a public consultation, at which interested parties would have the opportunity to express their opinion on the proposed texts.
The participants in the public consultation can submit written proposals on the draft ETR within 14 days. The Regulator will give a reasoned opinion on them in its final decision, which will be in closed session on 9.01.2020.
The public consultation was broadcast online on the EWRC website, and a recording of it is available on the Regulator`s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcyAUrz5z70