• Established in 2002, 5 Commissioners + 32 staff members
• Mr. Tomo Galić was appointed CERA Chairman in 2005.
• The Croatian Parliament upon the proposal of the Croatian Government appoints five Commissioners. The Parliament designates, amongst the five commissioners, a chairman and a deputy chairman. The commissioners are appointed for the term of office of five years.
• The CERC is responsible for licensing of enterprises in the gas, electricity, district heating, oil and oil/derivatives markets, sets transmission and distribution fees in electricity, approves electricity market rules. The CERA issues authorization for new generation capacity and settles disputes related to the network access.
• The CERC is financed from the levy on total income of energy companies and fees (licenses, dispute settlement)

HERA performs the following activities:

• Providing opinion to the Ministry on the tariff system for production of electric power from renewable energy sources and cogeneration, on compensation for providing incentives for renewable sources and cogeneration and on compensation for stranded costs;
• Providing opinion to the Ministry on the proposed amounts of compensation for organization of the electric energy market;
• Supervising application of all tariff systems and prescribed compensations;
• Providing opinion to the Ministry on general conditions of energy supply;
• Providing opinion to the Ministry on procedures and criteria for approval and construction of generating facilities;
• Organization and carrying out of tendering procedures for construction of generating facilities;
• Providing opinion or consent to draft regulations in the energy sector for which HERA is authorized according to the Act on the Regulation of Energy Activities and other legislation regulating particular energy activities;
• Supervision of energy undertakings, pursuant to the provisions of The Energy Act and other legislation regulating particular energy activities;
• Supervising quality of services provided by energy undertakings;
• Publishing information and data on energy efficiency and the use of energy;
• Participating in the energy policy design;
• Cooperating with the ministries and competent inspection services in accordance with special laws;
• Collecting and processing of data related to the activities of energy operators;
• Submitting requests for misdemeanor offense proceedings;
• Settling disputes related to carrying out of regulated energy activities, in particular with regards to the following:
  • Rejection of connection to the transmission network/transport system;
  • Determination of compensation for connection and usage of the transmission network/transport system.

HERA monitors:

• Rules on managing and allocating interconnection capacity in co-operation with regulatory bodies of neighboring countries to which the electric power system and the gas system are connected;
• Congestion management within the national transmission network/system;
• Time periods within which the Transmission System Operator or the Distribution System Operator makes repairs and connections;
• Provision of appropriate information by the Transmission System Operator or the Distribution System Operator to stakeholders as regards connections, transmission network/system and distribution network and the allocation of the transmission capacity of interconnection, taking into account confidentiality of certain information;
• Separation of accounts, as provided for in the Energy Act and laws regulating individual energy activities, to prevent cross-subsidizing among generation, transmission, distribution and supply;
• Objective, transparent and non-discriminatory conditions and tariffs for connection of new electricity producers, especially taking into account costs and benefits of renewable energy sources, distributed generation and cogeneration;
• Extent to which the Transmission System Operator or the Distribution System Operator fulfils its tasks pursuant to the Energy Act and laws governing individual energy activities;
• Degree of transparency and market competition.

HERA issues:

• Licenses for carrying out energy activities, and also temporarily and permanently revokes these licenses;
• Rulings on granting the status of eligible producers, and also temporarily and permanently revokes these rulings.

HERA performs also the following activities:

• Taking decisions on invitations to tenders and selecting the most advantageous bidder for construction of production facilities up to 50MW, in line with the Article 10, Electricity Market Act (“Official Gazette”, No. 177/04) and
• Submitting proposals to the Government of the Republic of Croatia on invitation to tenders and selecting the most advantageous bidder for building production facilities of 50 MW and higher, in line with the Article 10, Paragraph 1 of the Electricity market Act (“Official Gazette”, No. 177/04).

HERA provides:

• Opinions to the Ministry on the proposal of tariff items’ amounts;
• Opinions to the Government of the Republic of Croatia on the proposal of the amount of compensation for connection to the network and increase in connected power;

Consent to energy undertakings for construction of direct lines.

• The Croatian Electricity Company (HEP) is legally unbundled. There is one generation, one transmission and one distribution company. They all belong to the HEP Group, which is 100% state–owned.
• TSO (Transmission system operator) model with the independent market operator
• Eligibility level set by the law : Market opening strategy for all customers:
• End of 2004 – consumers with consumption above 20 GWh/year and all consumers connected to the transmission grid,
• 1st July 2006 – consumers with consumption greater than 9 GWh/year.
• 1st July 2007 – all industrial and commercial consumers will be eligible
• 1st July 2008 – all consumers will be eligible
  

Natural Gas

• Market structure: 1 producer/wholesaler/storage op., 1 gas transport company (Plinacro – legally unbundled, state owned), 38 distribution companies/public utility supply companies
• current legislation (new Act on the Gas Market) in line with the Directive 2003/55/EC
• transportation, distribution and tariff customers supply price regulated (tariff system)
• wholesale price set by Governmental decree
• Eligibility level set by the law : at the moment all non-household customers are eligible
• Timetable for market opening: August 1, 2007 all non-household customers, August 1, 2008 all customers

• Restructuring of energy sector is under way
• Privatization of INA – under way, HEP in the near future
• Gradual opening of energy market and its integration into the EU and regional market
• Increase generating capacity, especially with natural gas as the fuel
• Promotion of energy efficiency and use of renewable sources
• Harmonization of the energy policy according to the European Union Directives and in line with the Treaty establishing the Energy Community
• Security of supply
• Tariff and price system reconstruction

Ulica grada Vukovara 14 , 10000 Zagreb, Croatia, Tel.: ++385 1 6115–340, Fax: ++385 1 6115-344
Official website: http://www.hera.hr