Past Events - 2004

Bulletin 

Agenda

Participant List

Materials

The Energy Regulators Regional Association (ERRA) organized a European Union (EU) Accession Working Group meeting on March 5, 2004 in Riga, Latvia. The meeting was co-hosted by the Public Utilities Commission of Latvia (PUC), 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 9 of ERRA’s EU Accession Members participated, including Commissioners and senior staff from Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Turkey. The Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) was represented by 3 senior staff. This meeting was a prolongation of the topic “Quality of Supply”, which were started on November in Budapest.

In his welcoming comments, Chair Inna Steinbuka, Public Utilities Commission of Latvia (PUC) welcomed the working group participants and wished a fruitful and productive one-day meeting. 

Mr. Roberto Malaman, Director of Quality and Consumer Affairs at the Autorita per l’energia elettrica e il gas of Italy, informed ERRA members that the CEER Working Group on Benchmarking seized to exist, due to the reorganization of the framework dealt by CEER.

Introducing the topic of the meeting, Dr. Vidmantas Jankauskas, Chairman, national Control Commission for Prices and Energy in Lithuania (NCC); President, and Chairman of ERRA EU Accession WG expressed appreciation for the existing strong relationship between ERRA and CEER, and highlighted importance of security of supply in CEE and SEE countries at the threshold of joining the European Union.

Mr. Padraig Fleming, Commission for Electricity Regulation, Ireland, in his in-depth presentation generating good discussion, introduced the Irish experience of Quality of Electricity Supply Regulation. Defining performance standards he grouped guaranteed (GS) and overall standards (OS) and stressed that these standards are rather high in Ireland compared to other EU countries. Mr. Roberto Malaman noted the innovative approach of the commercial quality standards providing capability of the regulator to give positive answer to consumer complaints. Among other regulatory instruments to improve Commercial Quality, such as licence conditions, GS and OS, Mr. Fleming noted the role of the Independent Complaints Arbitrator, which will now become part of the Regulatory Commission.

Mr. Roberto Malaman presented the results of the CEER Questionnaire on the Benchmarking of Commercial Quality and Continuity Standards. The comparative study was very well received by the participants reflecting on different areas of benchmarking, among them definitions of Force Major by statistical or single approach; weighting methods of continuity indicators generated discussions, on how to compare weighted indicators if the method of using power is different. Attention was placed by participants on correlation between customer minutes lost and interruptions per customer as well. As a conclusion Mr. Malaman made some comments on significant differences arising across countries with regard to the duration and frequency of interruptions. In conclusion he drew that these differences may reflect differences of measures, classifications and network characteristics.

In the second part of the meeting, ERRA countries followed up on the finalization of the Survey on Quality of Electricity Supply. Data collection questionnaires, based on the CEER Benchmarking Questionnaire, were distributed prior to the meeting and members reviewed and commented its results.  At the end of the day, as a conclusion, the participants agreed to update the questionnaire striving to add quantitative figures for 2002, which then would be made public through the ERRA website.

By Viola Dozsa, Program Manager, ERRA

Agenda

09:15  Welcoming Comments
• Prof. Chair Inna Steinbuka, Public Utilities Commission, Latvia
• Dr. Vidmantas Jankauskas, Chairman, ERRA EU Accession Working Group
• Commissioner Jacques-Andre Troesch, Chairman of the CEER Task Force “New Members States”

09:30 Benchmarking of Commercial Quality and Continuity Standards and Actual Levels: Results from CEER Questionnaire
• Mr. Roberto Malaman, Autorita’ per l’energia elettrica e il gas, Italy
• Discussions

10:30  Coffee break

10:45 Quality of Electricity Supply Regulation: the Irish Experience
• Mr. Padraig Fleming, Commission for Electricity Regulation, Ireland
• Discussions

11:45 Discussions of the CEER-ERRA: Features of Electricity Distribution and Supply Activities: Degree of liberalization and unbundling of electricity market, Structure and organization of electricity distribution and supply, Main objectives and functions of the Regulator
• Bulgaria: Stefcho Nachev
• Croatia: Commissioner Ana-Maria Boromisa
• Estonia: Mr. Mart Ots
• Hungary: Mr. Tibor Tersztyanszky
• Latvia: Mr. Raitis Rezais
• Lithuania: Ms. Jurga Barsauskiene
• Poland: Mr. Leszek Kukula
• Romania: Mr. Alexander Sandulescu
• Turkey: Mr. Orhun Selcuk

12:30  Lunch

14:00 Discussions of the CEER-ERRA I. Questionnaire: Actual Levels and Standards in Commercial Quality, including Homogeneity Warnings
• Bulgaria: Stefcho Nachev
• Croatia: Commissioner Ana-Maria Boromisa
• Estonia: Mr. Mart Ots
• Hungary: Mr. Tibor Tersztyanszky
• Latvia: Mr. Raitis Rezais
• Lithuania: Ms. Jurga Barsauskiene
• Poland: Mr. Leszek Kukula
• Romania: Mr. Alexander Sandulescu
• Turkey: Mr. Orhun Selcuk

14:45 Discussions of the CEER-ERRA: Impact of Liberalization on Commercial Quality Regulation
•  Mr. Ferruccio Villa, Autorita’ per l’energia elettrica e il gas, Italy
• Discussions

15:00 Discussions of the CEER-ERRA II. Questionnaire: Planned and Unplanned Interruptions, including Homogeneity Warnings
• Bulgaria: Stefcho Nachev
• Croatia: Commissioner Ana-Maria Boromisa
• Estonia: Mr. Mart Ots
• Hungary: Mr. Tibor Tersztyanszky
• Latvia: Mr. Raitis Rezais
• Lithuania: Ms. Jurga Barsauskiene
• Poland: Mr. Leszek Kukula
• Romania: Mr. Alexander Sandulescu
• Turkey: Mr. Orhun Selcuk

15:45 Coffee break

16:00 Discussions of the CEER-ERRA: Future Plans for Quality of Supply Measurement and Regulation
• Bulgaria: Stefcho Nachev
• Croatia: Commissioner Ana-Maria Boromisa
• Estonia: Mr. Mart Ots
• Hungary: Mr. Tibor Tersztyanszky
• Latvia: Mr. Raitis Rezais
• Lithuania: Ms. Jurga Barsauskiene
• Poland: Mr. Leszek Kukula
• Romania: Mr. Alexander Sandulescu
• Turkey: Mr. Orhun Selcuk

16:30 Final Format of the CEER-ERRA Survey on Quality of Supply, and Conclusions
• Dr. Vidmantas Jankauskas, Chairman, ERRA EU Accession Working Group
• Mr. Roberto Malaman, Autorita per l’energia elettrica e il gas, Italy; Chairman of CEER Working Group on Quality of Supply
• Discussions

17:00  Meeting Concludes

Participant List

Materials