On October 25-26, 2004, the ERRA Tariff/Pricing Committee has held its fall meeting in Zagreb, Croatia. The meeting was co-hosted by the Croatian Energy Regulatory Council (CERC), 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 18 ERRA member countries and two NARUC specialists from the USA participated on the two-day conference.
After the welcoming by Deputy Chairman Eraldo Banovac, CERC/Croatia, Commissioner Svetla Todorova, State Energy Regulatory Commission, Bulgaria (Deputy Chair, Tariff/Pricing Committee) updated members on the findings and results of the ERRA Natural Gas Workshop that focused on 6 case studies and a roundtable discussion. Commissioner Todorova noted that the workshop was especially interesting because of the variety of international examples. Some countries are in the initial state of the gas market and some have more developed stage gas market; still the common issues of interest are the long-term contracts and their future, gas storages vs. gas market security of supply, and tariff issues in the ERRA region with varying methods of regulation from rate of return to price caps.
The morning session of the first day proceeded with the conventional country updates on the recent developments in the field of tariffs and pricing at each member country. Discussions on the Performance Evaluation issue touched three thematically separated categories: technical-engineering evaluation indices were presented by Mr. Ede Treso, Hungarian Energy Office. The theme was continued by Mr. Cetin Kayabas, EMRA/Turkey, who presented the results of the first questionnaire on the performance evaluation, and its financial aspects. Ms. Denise Parrish, Wyoming Public Service Commission, explained the US experience in the financial performance evaluation. As a result of talks, the committee agreed on the preparation of the 2nd questionnaire which would be more comprehensive and in-depth analysis of this issue before an issue paper is submitted for approval on the winter committee meeting.
On the second day, Ms. Denise Parrish, Deputy Administrator, Office of Consumer Advocate, Wyoming Public Service Commission presented the issue of the consumer advocacy with special attention to public interest’s protection. Commissioner Florin Gugu, Romanian National Electricity and Heat Regulatory Authority presented the ethical issues from the regulators point of view, in it he talked about the impact of ethics, code of ethics, and specific ethics for regulators. At the end of the day, the committee members voted on the issues for the workplan of 2005 and discussed ways and methods to make the ERRA tariff database online more sophistical. The meeting concluded with a short update on ERRA activities since the past winter committee meeting in Bucharest.
By Viola Dozsa, ERRA Program Manager
Agenda
Monday, October 25, 2004
Sheraton Hotel, Opatija-Pula Conference Room
09:00 Welcoming Comments
· Deputy Chairman Eraldo Banovac, Croatian Energy Regulatory Council
· Commissioner Florin Gugu, Romanian Electricity and Heat Regulatory Authority, Chairman, Tariff/Pricing Committee
· Dr. Jamshid Heidarian, Senior Energy Advisor, Energy and Infrastructure Division, Bureau for Europe and Eurasia, USAID
09:15 Introduction of new Committee Members and NARUC staff
· Commissioner Florin Gugu, ANRE, Romania, Chairman, Tariff/Pricing Committee
09:20 Short Summary - Results of the ERRA Natural Gas Workshop
· Commissioner Svetla Todorova, SERC, Bulgaria, Vice-Chairman ERRA Tariff/Pricing Committee
09:30 Roundtable Discussions:
Tariff/Pricing Updates by Committee Members
(Each Committee Member will be requested to give a max. 5 minutes verbal update on the recent developments in their country in the field of tariff and pricing)
10:45 Coffee break
11:00 Roundtable Discussions:
Tariff/Pricing Updates by Committee Members cont’d
11:30 Discussion on the Issue Paper: Performance Evaluation
· Results of the 1st Questionnaire by Mr. Çetin Kayabaş, Turkey
· Technical-Engineering Performance Evaluation Indices (standards) by Mr. Ede Tresó, Hungary
12:30 Lunch
· Discussions in the Committee
15:45 Selection of Topics for 2005 by Committee members
16:00 Meeting Concludes
16:30 Tour of the City followed by Group Dinner
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Sheraton Hotel, Opatija-Pula Conference Room
09:00 Consumer Advocacy Issues
· Ms. Denise Parrish, Wyoming Public Service Commission
09:45 Roundtable Discussions: Consumer Advocacy Updates by Committee Members
(Each Committee Member will be requested to give a max. 5 minutes verbal update on the Consumer Advocacy issues in their country)
· Moderated by Ms. Denise Parrish
10:30 Coffee break
10:45 Voting on the topics for the Workplan 2005
· Discussions
12:30 Lunch
14:00 Discussion on the Work Plan for 2005
· Commissioner Florin Gugu, Romania
· Ms. Viola Dozsa, Program Manager, ERRA Secretariat
Assignment of roles/responsibilities to committee members;
Define topics of the next meeting.
15:00 Discussion on the ERRA Tariff Database Online
· Ways & Methods of Improvement
16:00 Update on Recent and Future ERRA Activities
· Ms. Viola Dozsa, Program Manager, ERRA Secretariat
16:15 Meeting Concludes
Participant List
ERRA Full Members
Albania
Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERE)
Mr. Kastriot Sulka, Head of Tariff Department
Tel: (355 42) 58112; Fax: (355 42) 22963;
Internet: http://www.erranet.org/AboutUs/Members/Profiles/Albania
Armenia
Natural Monopoly Regulatory Commission of the Republic of Armenia (NMRC)
Mr. Armen Arshakyan, Head of Tariff Methodology Division
Tel: (374 1) 586419; Fax: (374 1) 525 563;
Internet: http://www.erranet.org/AboutUs/Members/Profiles/Armenia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
State Energy Regulatory Commission (SERC)
Mr. Saša Lukic, Tariff and Market Department Analyst
Tel.: (387 35) 302 075; Fax: (387 35) 302 077;
Internet: www.derk.ba or: http://www.erranet.org/AboutUs/Members/Profiles/Bosnia
Bulgaria
State Energy Regulatory Commission (SERC)
Commissioner Svetla Todorova, Deputy Chair of the Tariff/Pricing Committee
Tel: (359 2) 9888-728; Fax: (359 2) 988 8782;
Internet: http://www.dker.bg or http://www.erranet.org/AboutUs/Members/Profiles/Bulgaria
Croatia
Croatian Energy Regulatory Council (CERC)
Commissioner Ivona Štritof
Tel: (385 1) 6326 230, Fax: (385 1) 6326 261,
Internet: http://www.erranet.org/AboutUs/Members/Profiles/Croatia or www.vre.hr
Mr. Eraldo Banovac, Deputy Chairman
Tel: (385 1) 6326 196, Fax: (385 1) 6326 261,
Internet: http://www.erranet.org/AboutUs/Members/Profiles/Croatia or www.vre.hr
Czech Republic
Energy Regulatory Office (ERO)
Mr. Tomas Sochor, Specialist - Gas Department
Tel: (420) 567 580 681, 724 060 244, Fax: (420) 564 578 641
Internet: http://www.erranet.org/AboutUs/Members/Profiles/Czech or www eru.cz
Georgia
Georgian National Energy Regulatory Commission (GNERC)
Ms. Gulnara Bedoshvili, Head of Natural Gas Devision
Tel: (995 32) 253 395, or 253 396 Fax: (995 32) 253 690;
Internet: http://www.gnerc.org or http://www.erranet.org/AboutUs/Members/Profiles/Georgia
Hungary
Hungarian Energy Office (HEO)
Mr. Ede Tresó, Senior Advisor, Pricing Department
Tel: (361) 459 7701; Fax: (361) 459 7701
Internet:http://www.eh.gov.hu or http://www.erranet.org/AboutUs/Members/Profiles/Hungary
Latvia
Public Utilities Commission (PUC)
Mr. Janis Eisaks, Head of Gas Division
Tel: +371-7097230; Fax: +371-7097273,
Internet: http://www.erranet.org/AboutUs/Members/Profiles/Latvia , http://www.sprk.gov.lv/
Lithuania
National Control Commission for Prices and Energy in Lithuania (NCC)
Ms. Aistija Zubaviciute, Head Specialist
Tel: (370 2) 2397 824; Fax: (370 2) 235 270;
Internet: http://www.regula.is.lt or http://www.erranet.org/AboutUs/Members/Profiles/Lithuania
Ms. Necejauskiene Laimute, Head Specialist
Tel: (370 5) 213 9226; Fax: (370 5) 213 5270
Republic of Macedonia
Energy Regulatory Commission of the Republic of Macedonia (ERC)
Mr. Slavko Bundaleski, Energy Advisor
Tel: (389 2) 3233 580, Fax: (389 2) 3233 586;
Internet: www.erc.org.mk
Romania
Romanian Electricity and Heat Regulatory Authority (ANRE)
Commissioner Florin Gugu, Chair of the Tariff/Pricing Committee
Tel: (401) 3032562; Fax: (401) 3124365;
Internet: http://www.anre.ro/ or http://www.erranet.org/AboutUs/Members/Profiles/Romania
Russian Federation
Federal Tariff Service of the Russian Federation (FTS)
Mr. Maxim Peshkov, Deputy Head of Methodology and Expertise Department
Tel: (7 095) 220 4015, Fax: (7 095) 220 4738,
Internet: http://www.fecrf.ru/ or http://www.erranet.org/AboutUs/Members/Profiles/Russia
Slovakia
Regulatory Office for Network Industries
Commissioner Karol Dvorak
Tel: (421 2) 581 00417, Fax: (421 2) 581 00474;
Internet: http://www.urso.gov.sk/ or http://www.erranet.org/AboutUs/Members/Profiles/Slovakia
Turkey
Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA)
Mr. Çetin Kayabaş, Group Head from the Electricity Department
Tel: (90 312) 287 2560/289, Fax: (90 312) 287 8416,
Internet: http://www.erranet.org/AboutUs/Members/Profiles/Turkey or www.epdk.org.tr
Ms. Nalan Pervan, Expert
Tel: (90 312) 287 2560/308, Fax: (90 312) 287 8814,
Internet: http://www.erranet.org/AboutUs/Members/Profiles/Turkey or www.epdk.org.tr
Ukraine
National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC)
Commissioner Yuriy Kyyashko
Tel: (380 44) 241 9003; Fax: (380 44) 241 9005;
Internet: http://www.erranet.org/AboutUs/Members/Profiles/Ukraine or www.nerc.gov.ua
ERRA Associate Members
Romania
National Natural Gas Regulatory Authority (ANRGN)
Mr. Gabriel Sirbu, Director
Tel: (40 21) 303 38 00; Fax: (40 21) 303 38 08;
Internet: http://www.erranet.org/AboutUs/Members/Profiles/AssociateMembers or http://www.anrgn.ro/eng/index.htm
Romania
National Regulatory Authority for Municipal Services(ANRSC)
Ms. Claudia Mihaela Vasiliu, Expert- Department for Prices, Tariffs
Tel: (40 21) 326 1781; Fax: (40 21) 326 1782;
Internet: http://www.erranet.org/AboutUs/Members/Profiles/AssociateMembers or http://www.anrgn.ro/eng/index.htm
Ms. Georgeta Gabriela Zorlentan, Expert- Department for Prices, Tariffs
Tel: (40 21) 326 1781; Fax: (40 21) 326 1782
United States
National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC)
Internet: http://www.naruc.org
Wyoming Public Service Commission
Ms. Denise Parrish, Supervisor of Rates and Pricing
Tel.: (1 307) 777 5743; Fax: (1 307) 777 5700
Public Utilities Commission of Ohio
Mr. Thomas Pearce, Chair, NARUC Staff Subcommittee on Gas, Natural Gas Specialist
Tel.: (1 614) 466 1846; Fax: (1 614) 752 8352
Other Participants
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Bureau for Europe and Eurasia
Dr. Jamshid Heidarian, Senior Energy Advisor, Energy and Infrastructure Division
Теl:(202) 712-4402; Fax: (202) 216-3389;
Energy Regulators Regional Association (ERRA)
Ms. Viola Dozsa, Program Manager;
Ms. Anikó Kiss, Program Assistant;
Tel: (36 1) 477 0456; Fax: (36 1) 477 0455
Internet: http://www.erranet.org/
Tariff_Com_Ethical_Issues_Gugu_Zagreb_eng.pdf
