S.L. 545.34 Art. 47Duties and powers of the Regulator. 

(1) The Regulator shall have the following duties:

(a) fixing or approving, in accordance with transparent criteria, transmission or distribution tariffs or their methodologies, or both;

(b) ensuring the compliance of transmission system operators and distribution system operators and, where relevant, system owners, as well as the compliance of any electricity undertakings and other market participants, with their obligations under these regulations, Regulation (EU) 2019/943, the network codes and the guidelines adopted pursuant to Articles 59, 60 and 61 of Regulation (EU) 2019/943, and other relevant Union law, including as regards cross-border issues, as well as with ACER’s decisions;

(c) in close coordination with the other regulatory authorities, ensuring the compliance of the single allocation platform established in accordance with Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/1719 of 26 September 2016 establishing a guideline on forward capacity allocation, the ENTSO for Electricity and the EU DSO entity, with their obligations under these regulations, Regulation (EU) 2019/943 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on the internal market for electricity, the network codes and guidelines adopted pursuant to Articles 59, 60 and 61 of Regulation (EU) 2019/943 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on the internal market for electricity, and any other relevant Union law, including as regards cross-border issues, as well as with ACER’s decisions, and the joint identification of non-compliance of the ENTSO for Electricity and the EU DSO entity with their respective obligations. Where the regulatory authorities have not reached an agreement within a period of four (4) months after the start of consultations for the purpose of jointly identifying non-compliance, the matter shall be referred to the ACER for a decision, pursuant to Article 6(10) of Regulation (EU) 2019/942 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 establishing a European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (recast);

(d) approving products and procurement process for non-frequency ancillary services;

(e) implementing the network codes and guidelines adopted pursuant to Articles 59, 60 and 61 of Regulation (EU) 2019/943 through national measures or, where so required, coordinated regional or Union-wide measures;

(f) cooperating in regard to cross-border issues with the regulatory authority or authorities of the Member States concerned and with ACER, in particular through participation in the work of ACER’s Board of Regulators pursuant to Article 21 of Regulation (EU) 2019/942;

(g) complying with, and implementing, any relevant legally binding decisions of the Commission and of ACER;

(h) ensuring that transmission system operators make available interconnector capacities to the utmost extent pursuant to Article 16 of Regulation (EU) 2019/943;

(i) reporting annually on its activity and the fulfilment of its duties to the relevant national authorities, the Commission and ACER, including on the steps taken and the results obtained as regards each of the tasks listed in this regulation;

(j) ensuring that there is no cross-subsidisation between transmission, distribution and supply activities or other electricity or non-electricity activities;

(k) monitoring investment plans of the transmission system operators and providing in its annual report an assessment of the investment plans of the transmission system operators as regards their consistency with the Union-wide network development plan; such assessment may include recommendations to amend those investment plans;

(l) monitoring and assessing the performance of transmission system operators and distribution system operators in relation to the development of a smart grid that promotes energy efficiency and the integration of energy from renewable sources, based on a limited set of indicators, and publish a national report every two years, including recommendations;

(m) setting or approving standards and requirements for quality of service and quality of supply or contributing thereto together with other competent authorities and monitoring compliance with and reviewing the past performance of network security and reliability rules;

(n) monitoring the level of transparency, including of wholesale prices, and ensuring compliance of electricity undertakings with transparency obligations;

(o) monitoring the level and effectiveness of market opening and competition at wholesale and retail levels, including on electricity exchanges, prices for household customers including prepayment systems, the impact of dynamic electricity price contracts and of the use of smart metering systems, switching rates, disconnection rates, charges for maintenance services, the execution of maintenance services, the relationship between household and wholesale prices, the evolution of grid tariffs and levies, and complaints by household customers, as well as any distortion or restriction of competition, including by providing any relevant information, and bringing any relevant cases to the relevant competition authorities;

(p) monitoring the occurrence of restrictive contractual practices, including exclusivity clauses which may prevent customers from contracting simultaneously with more than one supplier or restrict their choice to do so, and, where appropriate, informing the national competition authorities of such practices;

(q) monitoring the time taken by transmission system operators and distribution system operators to make connections and repairs;

(r) helping to ensure, together with other relevant authorities, that the consumer protection measures are effective and enforced;

(s) publishing recommendations, at least annually, in relation to compliance of supply prices with regulation 4, and providing those recommendations to the competition authorities, where appropriate;

(t) ensuring non-discriminatory access to customer consumption data, the provision, for optional use, of an easily understandable harmonised format at national level for consumption data, and prompt access for all customers to such data pursuant to regulation 20 and 21 of these regulations;

(u) monitoring the implementation of rules relating to the roles and responsibilities of transmission system operators, distribution system operators, suppliers, customers and other market participants pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/943;

(v) monitoring investment in generation and storage capacities in relation to security of supply;

(w) monitoring technical cooperation between Union and third-country transmission system operators;

(x) contributing to the compatibility of data exchange processes for the most important market processes at regional level;

(y) monitoring the availability of comparison tools that meet the requirements set out in regulation 11;

(z) monitoring the removal of unjustified obstacles to and restrictions on the development of consumption of self-generated electricity, energy sharing, renewable energy communities and citizen energy communities, including obstacles and restrictions preventing the connection of flexible distributed energy generation within a reasonable time in accordance with regulation 46(d).

(2) While preserving its independence, without prejudice to the Regulator’s specific competence and consistent with the principles of better regulation, the Regulator shall, as appropriate, consult transmission system operators and distribution system operators, as appropriate, closely cooperate with other relevant national authorities when carrying out the duties set out in sub-regulation (1).

Any approvals given by the Regulator under these regulations are without prejudice to any duly justified future use of its powers by the Regulator under these regulations or to any penalties imposed by other relevant authorities or the Commission.

(3) For the purpose of carrying out the duties under these regulations in an efficient and expeditious manner, the Regulator shall have the following powers:

(a) to issue binding decisions on electricity undertakings;

(b) to require any information from electricity undertakings relevant for the fulfilment of its tasks, including the justification for any refusal to grant third-party access, and any information on measures necessary to reinforce the network;

(c) appropriate rights of investigation and relevant powers of instruction for dispute settlement under sub-regulation (2) and (3) of regulation 48.

(4) The Regulator, except where ACER is competent to fix and approve the terms and conditions or methodologies for the implementation of network codes and guidelines under Chapter VII of Regulation (EU) 2019/943 pursuant to Article 5(2) of Regulation (EU) 2019/942 because of their coordinated nature, shall be responsible for fixing or approving sufficiently in advance of their entry into force at least the national methodologies used to calculate or establish the terms and conditions for:

(a) connection and access to national networks, including transmission and distribution tariffs or their methodologies, those tariffs or methodologies shall allow the necessary investments in the networks to be carried out in a manner allowing those investments to ensure the viability of the networks;

(b) the provision of ancillary services which shall be performed in the most economic manner possible and provide appropriate incentives for network users to balance their input and off-takes, such ancillary services shall be provided in a fair and non-discriminatory manner and be based on objective criteria; and

(c) access to cross-border infrastructures, including the procedures for the allocation of capacity and congestion management.

(5) The methodologies or the terms and conditions referred to in sub-regulation (4) shall be published.

(6) With a view to increasing transparency in the market and providing all interested parties with all necessary information and decisions or proposals for decisions concerning transmission and distribution tariffs as referred in regulation 48(3), the Regulator shall make publicly available the detailed methodology and underlying costs used for the calculation of the relevant network tariffs, while preserving the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information.

(7) The Regulator shall monitor congestion management of national electricity systems including interconnectors, and the implementation of congestion management rules. To that end, transmission system operators or market operators shall submit their congestion management rules, including capacity allocation, to the Regulator. The Regulator may request amendments to those rules.