jninhua,如家预订,我的祖国诗朗诵伴奏
| 欧洲能源部门一直在探讨相关政策，从一开始就一直得到欧共体的特别的关注。[1]他通过欧洲煤钢共同体的建立(煤钢共同体)和欧洲原子能共同体(EAEC)的建立来展示其效用[2]。 尽管上述机构已经建立,但欧盟进一步致力于建立一个统一的内部市场,称为内部能源市场(IEM)[3]。以下是IEM的各种指令,确保可以完成执法。IEM的核心目标主要集中在天然气和电力市场。 在能源市场的竞争开始前有许多用户需求需要被聚集在一起。这其中就包括建立一个监管框架促进自由化,所有权变化和第三方访问(TPA)天然气和电力网络的许可。[4] 然而在能源上引入一个独立的监管部门是一个巨大的挑战,因为现有的“子公司”,阻碍了实现的原理。[5]然而, 根据欧盟指令国家能源监管机构(尼珥)要建立于每个成员国。这并不是一个伟大的成功,因为像德国这样的国家没有创造国家监管机构，原因是它有一个不同的监管体系。 1. INTRODUCTION The European Energy sector has been on the top policy agenda of the EC and has always gained special attention right from the inception. [1] This was shown by the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC) [2] . Despite the above establishment, the EU further worked towards establishing a single internal market called the Internal Energy Market (IEM) [3] . Following this was the various directives to ensure the enforcement of the IEM. The center of attention on the IEM is mainly on the gas and electricity market. There are numerous requires to be met before the introduction of competition in to the energy market. This includes creating a regulatory framework to promote liberalization, ownership change and Third Party Access (TPA) to the gas and electricity network. [4] However introducing independent regulators creates a challenge in an energy marker because of the existing principle of ‘Subsidiary’ which hindered the implementation. [5] However, a National Energy Regulator (NER) was created in each member state under the EU Directive. This has not been a great success because countries like Germany did not create and independent national Regulatory Authority reason been that it had a different regulatory system. [6] This lingered on till 2004 when it finally created one. Introduction of regulation in the energy market was a shift from the ‘state control’ principle which has attributes of state ownership of the energy industries where all services where single handedly provided by the state to a ‘regulatory state’ which involves the separation of public services and an introduction of new policies to promote privatization, competition and liberalization [7] . One of the need for an independent regulator in an energy market is to introduce an Independent System Operator (ISO) to care for the consumers interest by ensuring that the distribution and transmission network is not been manipulated by the state or companies [8] .The question is how independent are the Regulators, and the ISO? This would be examined within this paper. 2. THE EU MARKET OPENING Market opening simply involves the introduction of competition into the energy market to ensure a level playing ground for market operators. The late Daniel Golder defines competition as: “The relationship between a number of undertaking which sells goods or services of the same kind at the same time to an identifiable group of consumers”. [9] The EU has implemented various directives which have made positive impact in the European Energy market. The aim of these directives is to promote competition and energy trade between EU countries. Since the nineties, the EU has operated an open market system whereby consumers have the freedom to choose their suppliers and however goods can be transported and traded freely within the EU. Having an effective open market breaks the legal barriers which in turn enables the new entrants to trade in the market. Market opening became effective on the 2nd of July 2007. It therefore ensures a reliable price formation amongst suppliers and buyers. It also promotes security of supply and encourages the use of renewable energy. However, the rights of the consumer are protected by the rules and regulations enacted by the EU in relation to opening of the internal market in each EU country. In addition to this the EC is proposing a European Energy Consumer Charter to govern and regulate consumer’s right. 2.1 REQUIREMENTS FOR ENERGY MARKET OPENING. A non competitive market offers little or nothing to the market [10] . The end of globalization brought forth the need for liberalization to promote competition. The introduction of new technology like the Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) helped reduce the cost of entry for new market entrants. Various methods have been used to reform the energy sector with the aim to ensure security of supply and competition. They include: 2.1.1 UNBUNDLING Within the EU, former monopolist even after liberalization still owned the transmission sector which is apparently the backbone of the energy sector. This single act in my opinion is anti competitive and it defeats the purpose of liberalization. The EC objective of liberalizing the energy market is to effectively separate the ownership of the electricity and gas network from the supply sector. In September 2007, the EC proposed a structure to enhance competition in the already integrated markets. This structure is called ‘Unbundling’. The concept of unbundling literally means the separation of the Energy companies from their transmission network. The Commissions idea about this is full unbundling of the supply sector from the transmission sector by introducing an ISO. However, companies who are vertically integrated are required to run their assets independently but still retain the network ownership. There are four types of unbundling: Ownership unbundling, Accounting unbundling, Legal unbundling and Functional unbundling. This paper is more concerned with ownership unbundling than the other types of unbundling. Legal unbundling should be separated from the meaning of ownership unbundling, considering the fact that member state has not agreed on a common rule on this issue. Legal unbundling in this context involves the total separation of the Transmission System Operators (TSO) from the Distribution System Operators (DSO).therefore the legal unbundling those not involve change of ownership. The Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes Addressed the minister in a meeting on the 6th of June 2006 and I quote: “Full separation of the network ownership is the best form of allowing new entrants access to the network” [11] . On the same day member state reached a final decision on the issue of ownership unbundling and also created two substitutes for it which includes the ISO and the Independent Transmission Operator (ITO). [12] The German and French Minister were of the opinion that full ownership unbundling would be in breach of their countries constitution [13] . 2.1.2 THIRD PARTY ACCESS The second requirement for market opening is called the Third Part Access (TPA). Its major aim just like the concept of unbundling is to promote competition in a liberalized energy market. The pipeline service involves the supply of commodity in both electricity and gas sector. The electricity and gas sector are the only sector in the EU energy market that retains its natural monopoly which cannot be changed. [14] Since TPA applies to the gas and electricity sector, member state should carry out TPA in a published tariff for every consumer to avoid discrimination. [15] However, the duty of the NRA is to ensure that the tariffs are not manipulated. TPA market is more of a wholesale market rather than a retail market; however the only situation whereby refusal of access is allowed is where there is capacity shortage. [16] TPA is more complicated in the Gas industry because it involves access to storage, access to upstream network and access to transit pipeline. In dealing with the issue of access under gas, member states have two options, 1. Is to either get the access through negotiation or 2. Get the access through a regulated method. [17] In a negotiated TPA, the network owner is likely to discriminate against the other network users who are in competition with it by not granting them access with reason that the network is full, or he can set a ridiculous fee for the usage of the pipeline. This would therefore discourage its competitor from transporting their gas through the pipeline. With the aim of correcting this act of discrimination, the introduction of the new Gas and Electricity Directive by the EC abolished negotiated TPA and replaced it with Regulated TPA. This single act illustrates how relevant regulation is to the industry. [18] However this paper is more concern with how independent the regulatory TPA is. The EU regulated TPA ensures that access to network is rendered at a regulated tariff and must be published to ensure transparency. The NRA’s duty is to approve these tariffs before it is published [19] this simply implies that the NRA is in charge of network access issues. 2.1.3 PUBLIC SERVICE OBLIGATION Public Service Obligation (PSO) is one area that enhances competition in the energy market. The question frequently asked is: Would member state be granted permission to keep their interest on the basis of Public interest? This question was answered by the 2003 Directive where it divided PSO into Security of supply, Price of supply, and regularity. The Directive described PSO as a “fundamental Requirement” [20] . |
