The regulatory committee of ANRE unanimously approved, on Wednesday, Order no. 60 for the modification of some orders of the president of the National Energy Regulatory Authority regarding the electricity market.
Balancing market prices increased even more than five times this summer compared to the previous year, rising, for example, in July to record levels of 3,000 euro/MWh (the average for 2023 was of around 400 lei, or 80 euro, while the average from 2024 rose above 2,000 lei, or 400 euro, with maximums of over 15,000 lei/MWh).
The approved normative act provides for the use by the transmission and system operator (OTS) of the concept of elastic demand as a measure to temper imbalance prices.
“These measures were taken by ANRE to prevent unjustified price increases in the balancing market for the benefit of all electricity customers,” said George Niculescu, ANRE president.
The concept of elastic demand that is used on the European balancing platform, to which all countries in Europe are interconnected, can from now on also be used during periods of operation not connected to the single balancing platform with the application of local rules. This concept allows TSOs to optimize and reduce energy system balancing costs by using alternative offers such as specific local balancing products. During the use of this concept, the TSO communicates the maximum prices it is willing to pay for the selected balancing energy, this fact being to the benefit of all participants in the electricity market by reducing balancing costs. Also, the TSO has the obligation to publish the second day after the day of delivery, in a transparent and non-discriminatory manner, the prices of the offers by type of reserves, as well as the marginal prices of the balancing energy selected for each settlement interval.
The rules applied to the power plants in operation for the trial period were modified by changing the price offered to them for the electricity produced, which is correlated with the market price for the next day (PZU) for the respective settlement interval. The test period will be carried out in a schedule established with the TSO for each producer depending on its power and operating voltage.
Also, a provision was approved requiring network operators to send suppliers information, in good time, regarding the measured values related to their consumption in order to facilitate taking proactive measures in order to balance their portfolios, with application from January 1, 2025. This provision was adopted in order to improve consumption forecasts, this fact can lead to a reduction in balancing costs and implicitly in the cost of electricity for the final customer.
In conclusion, the measures adopted by ANRE provide a useful regulatory framework for reducing the costs of balancing the electric power system and finally they can have an impact on reducing the imbalance prices paid by the parties responsible for balancing, respectively by the market participants and, at finally, by consumers.
