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Past Events - 2003 -
EU Accession Working Group Meeting
"Quality of Supply"
Monday, November 10, 2003
Budapest, Hungary
The Energy Regulators Regional Association (ERRA) organized an European Union (EU) Accession Working Group meeting on November 10, 2003 in Budapest, Hungary. It was co-hosted by the Hungarian Energy Office (HEO), the Energy Regulators Regional Association (ERRA) and the U.S. National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), with funding provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Representatives from 6 of ERRA’s EU Accession Members participated, including senior staff from Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Turkey. The Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) was represented by 7 senior staff, most of them are members of the CEER Working Group on Quality of Supply.
In his welcoming comments, Commissioner Jacques-Andre Troesch, Chairman of the CEER “New Member States” Task Force expressed appreciation for the existing strong relationship between ERRA and CEER. Introducing the topic of the meeting, he stressed the importance of Quality of Supply in light of recent incidents in the US and in Europe. He said security of supply is nothing without quality of supply that is measured by the level of customer satisfaction.
Mr. Roberto Malaman, Director of Quality and Consumer Affairs at the Autorita per l’energia elettrica e il gas of Italy (Chairman of the CEER Working Group on Quality of Supply) introduced methods and principles of Quality of Supply. Defining quality of supply he said “quality of supply is what customers really receive against the bill they pay.” Further on, he presented the correlation between price regulation and quality regulation, the main instruments for quality regulation, commercial quality regulation and continuity of supply regulation. Finally, he briefly introduced the activities of the CEER Working Group on Quality of Supply.
Dr. Gabor Szorenyi, Director of the Hungarian Energy Office, presented the Hungarian practise to the participants and gave insight to some international benchmarking possibilities. He said that supply quality will become of utmost importance for EU Accession organizations in the near future because of the strict reporting requirements of the EU. Dr. Szorenyi explained that consumers’ interest protection should be more than complaint handling by the regulator, it should be one of the main driving forces of the regulatory staff. Further, he gave an overview of components of quality of supply in Hungary. As a conclusion Dr. Szorenyi made some suggestions for cooperation on supply quality issues.
After the introductory presentations, national presentations were made by the present CEER members. These presentations focused on the following main issues: measurement of continuity of electricity supply, reporting/monitoring, economic incentives and disincentives, monitoring process of relationship between customers and suppliers.
Mr. Antonio Candela Martinez introduced quality of supply in Spain from the above perspectives. Mr. Chris Watts, Head of OFGEM Quality of Supply Team spoke about quality of service regulation in Great Britain. In conclusion, Mr. Watts said that the key message for Ofgem recently has been to improve the balance between cost and quality. Summarizing some of the key lessons learned he stressed the following issues: (1) making sure that sufficient time is devoted for incentives (2) giving careful thoughts on auditing the information (3) considering the impact of recent severe weather conditions (4) incentives should focus on both the short and long-term performance of the network. Mr. Guenter Pauritsch presented E-Contol Austria’s experience in the regulation of quality of electricity supply. His presentation generated discussions on categorizing of unplanned outages and on defining outages caused by Acts of God. Mr. Luca Lo Schiavo from the Autorita per l’energia elettrica e il gas explained that one of the main objectives of the Italian regulators with the introduction of supply quality regulation has been to reduce the existing gap between the northern and southern part of Italy. It was interesting to see the main effects of new regulation of supply quality in his presentation.
In the second part of the meeting ERRA members introduced their experiences in the field of supply quality regulation. There was a general agreement between participants that supply quality regulation is a new activity for most of the ERRA member organizations present and that the experience and expertise of CEER regulators would be greatly appreciated. As a conclusion, the participants agreed that after receiving a questionnaire compiled by CEER members on supply quality regulation, they will strive to prepare a benchmarking type of survey in order to compare national and international levels.
Sponsored by U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
09:00 Welcoming Comments 09:15 Quality of supply regulation: principles and methods 09:35 Introduction of the Experiences of the Hungarian Energy Office /suggested form of Benchmarking the result of the CEER and ERRA countries/ 10:15 Coffee break 10:30 National presentations from CEER members on quality of supply regulation, each of them focusing on following topics: Moderator: Mr.Roberto Malaman 12:30 Lunch 14:00 Presentation of certain ERRA countries on the achievements obtained so far on Supply Quality Regulation and Monitoring Process of the Relationship Between Customers and Suppliers 15:00 Coffee break 15:15 Presentation of certain ERRA countries on the achievements obtained so far on Supply Quality Regulation and Monitoring Process of the Relationship Between Customers and Suppliers 16:30 Follow-up on the CEER Benchmarking Report – ERRA Members’ Data Collection 17:00 Meeting Concludes Bulgaria Hungary Latvia Romania CEER Commission de Regulation de l'Energie, France Autorità per l'energia elettrica e il gas, Italy E-Control, Austria CEER Office Brussels, OFGEM, United Kingdom ERRA
Energy Regulators Regional Association (ERRA) Energy Regulators Regional Association (ERRA) Quality of supply regulation: principles and methods Introduction of the Experiences of the Hungarian Energy Office /suggested form of Benchmarking the result of the CEER and ERRA countries/ Presentation of certain ERRA countries on the achievements obtained so far on Supply Quality Regulation and Monitoring Process of the Relationship Between Customers and Suppliers |
