Past Events - 2004 

 Bulletin

Agenda

Participant List

Materials

Bulletin

The Energy Regulators Regional Association (ERRA) held Licensing/Competition Committee meeting from 23-24 February 2004, in Moscow, Russia. It was co-hosted by the Romanian Heat and Electricity Regulatory Authority (ANRE), National Natural Gas Regulatory Authority (ANRGN), 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 14 of ERRA’s 19 Full Members arrived for the two-day Committee Meeting, including Commissioners and senior staff from Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Kyrgyz Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania (ANRE), Russian Federation, Slovakia, and Ukraine. Apart from the Full Members, Associate Member Organizations were also represented from Mongolia, Romania (ANRGN). NARUC also represented itself with Deputy Director of Utilities Department, Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Ms. Kim Wissman, and Chairman of Maine Public Utilities Commission, Mr. Thomas Welch.

The meeting started with the Welcoming comments, delivered by President Ion Lungu, Romanian Heat and Electricity Regulatory Authority. After the warm welcome Chairman Dr. Gabor Szorenyi introduced the new Committee Members and NARUC representative, Ms. Kim Wissman. First part of the meeting was devoted to the issue of Balancing Markets, which was demonstrated by Mr. Anders Plejdrup Houmoller, Nordpool, who gave a detailed description of the Danish model. Other aspects of this issue were highlighted by Ms. Kim Wissman, and Chairman Welch who analyzed the Market Models existing in the US. The first day of the meeting concluded with two deeply interesting, thought provoking presentations, delivered by Commissioner Alexandru Sandulescu, ANRE, and Mr. Bogdan Popescu Vifor, Transelectrica. The second day of the meeting started with the traditional update on the recent Commission information, and recent and future ERRA activities, introduction of the Licensing/Competition Committee Workplan for 2004. Commissioner Maria Manicuta introduced the final version of Discussion Paper #3/2003 on Distribution: Public Service Obligations, TSO Obligations, while Mrs. Ligia Medrea presented the final version of Discussion paper #2/2003 on Status of TPA Guidelines in ERRA Member Countries, Chairman Gabor Szorenyi introduced the Interim Analysis of the Questionnaire on Security of Supply. Chairman Thomas Welch gave a presentation on Cooperation with system Operators in which concerns about the reliability of electricity networks were emphasized in order to avoid blackouts and similar failures that can occur. Beside the presentations and discussion papers, daily regulatory issues, questions interesting for the Committee members were also discussed.
The Meeting ended with assignments of roles/responsibilities to committee members for the next meeting to be held in on 19 May 2004, in Budapest.

By Anna Fischer, Program Officer, ERRA

Agenda

Monday, February 23, 2004

09:00 Roundtable Discussions: Licensing/Competition Updates
(Each Committee Member will be requested to give a max. 5 min. verbal update on the recent developments in their country in the field of licensing and/or competition)

10:00  Update on Recent and Future ERRA Activities
• Ms. Anna Fischer, Program, Assistant, ERRA Secretariat

10:10  Introduction of the Committee’s Workplan for 2004
• Mr. Gabor Szorenyi, Director, Hungarian Energy Office
• Ms. Anna Fischer, ERRA Secretariat
• Discussions

10:30  Coffee break

10:45  Discussion Paper #3/2003 Introduction of the Final Version
Distribution: Public Service Obligations, TSO Obligations
• Commissioner Maria Manicuta, ANRE Romania
• Committee Discussion 

16:30   Meeting Concludes

Participant List

Albania
Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERE)
Tel: (355 42) 58 112; Fax: (355 42) 22 963
Mr.Arben Xhiku, Head of Licensing, Monitoring and Export-Import Department

Materials