Bulletin

Agenda

Participant List

Materials

Workshop on Legal Regulation in ERRA Member Countries

The Energy Regulators Regional Association (ERRA) organized the 2nd Workshop on Legal Regulation in ERRA member countries on September 27-28, 2004 in Kiev, Ukraine. The meeting was co-hosted by the National Electricity Regulatory Commission of Ukraine (NERC), 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).
The aim of the meeting was to promote better understating of the legal regulatory issues evolving in energy regulation among ERRA members and to continue the initiative of technical work on legal regulatory issues, which began with a workshop in February 2004.   Representatives from 20 ERRA member organizations participated; in addition 2 US and 1 Austrian regulator  attended.
The two-day meeting focused on several issues such as Appeal Process, Sanctions for Not Meeting Regulatory Decisions, Relationship between Energy Regulators and Antimonopoly Organizations, Definition and Regulation of Vertically Integrated Monopolies, and Information Collection.  After introductory remarks by Commissioner Lubov Goncharova (Ukrainian National Electricity Regulatory Commission), the Working Group leader, participants discussed the necessity of a common understanding of legal terms and team members were selected to develop a potential Glossary on Legal Regulatory Terms, which should include terms from EU Directives as well.
The issues of appeal process and types of decisions that can be appealed were introduced in several case studies by Mr. Daniel Georgievski (Macedonian Energy Regulatory Commission), Mr. Daniel Vitanyi (Hungarian Energy Office), Ms. Antonida Tarasenko (Ukrainian National Electricity Regulatory Commission) and Mr. John A. Levin (Assistant Counsel, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission).  During discussions participants learned about theppeal processes in other countries (i.e. ERC Macedonia is not authorized to impose fines as sanctions, however, they can revoke licenses; in Ukraine tariffs cannot be appealed at courts).
Ms. Malgorzata Szczepanska, Polish Energy Regulatory Office, and Mr. John Levin, Pennsylvania PUC, discussed the sanctions process for utilities that do not implement the regulator’s rulemakings. The theme of the relationship between energy regulators and antimonopoly organizations presented by Ms. Olga Serova (Energy Agency under the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic) and Mr. Wolfgang Urbantschitsch (E-Control, Austria).  This topic generated vivid discussions on allowed monopolies in the energy sector of the Kyrgyz Republic as well as comparisons of natural vs. artificial monopolies. Mr. Urbantschitsch and Ms. Ana Maria Stanciulescu (Romanian heat and Electricity Regulatory Authority) lead further discussions on the definition and regulation of vertically integrated monopolies.  This issue is considered a hot topic at the European Commission (EC), and national monopoly authorities and member stated are invited by EC for discussions on competition in the energy regulation.
The second day started with a role playing exercise on the rules and procedures for beginning a case in the US under the supervision of Mr. Scott Storm, Chief Administrative Law Judge, Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. The fictional role play involved two companies and an attorney for the public advocate and gave an interesting chance for the participants to see in practice the US court procedures. The ERRA participants divided into three groups and followed the instructions of the scenario, the settlement worksheet, and the rehearing conference order. The goal of the teams was to reach a final decision on agreement of dates, the procedure schedules (petitioner's prefiling date), and the settlement hearing. 
The workshop continued with presentations on information collection with subtopics including: the legal basis for information collection, routine regulatory reporting for the purposes of monitoring utility performance against quality of service standards, and public vs. confidential information. Ms. Malgorzata Kozak, Polish Energy Regulatory Office and Ms. Vilma Adomaviciute, Lithuanian National Control Commission for Prices and Energy, presented in details the practice followed in their countries.
Finally, participants of the Workshop on Legal Regulation in ERRA member countries voted on the formalization of the future work as a committee and expressed great interest to meet and discuss legal issues in year 2005 on a regular basis.

 
By Viola Dozsa, ERRA Program Manager 
 

Agenda

September 27 (Monday)
NERC Conference Room

Participant List

Albania
Albanian Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERE)
Ms. Eriola Sadushi, Legal Specialist
Tel: (355 42) 580 66; Fax: (355 42) 322 45
Internet: http://www.erranet.org/AboutUs/Members/Profiles/Albania

Armenia
Natural Monopoly Regulatory Commission of the Republic of Armenia (NMRC)
Mr. Hrachya Hakobyan, Deputy of Legal/Lisence Department
Tel.:(374 1)522 522, Fax: (374 1) 525 563 web-site: www.rcnm.am
Internet: http://www.erranet.org/AboutUs/Members/Profiles/Armenia

Materials