EU energy regulatory authority ACER is consulting until September 15 on the level and implementation date for harmonized maximum and minimum prices in the EU's day-ahead and intraday coupled power markets.
Maximum day-ahead options range up to Eur9,999/MWhProposes link between day-ahead, intraday maximumsWants maximum, minimum prices harmonized by 2019
The responsibility for deciding these issues has passed to ACER after all EU national regulators failed to agree the proposals on them made by all EU nominated electricity market operators -- NEMOs -- in February.
The process and requirement for agreeing these prices is set out in the EU's binding network code on capacity allocation and congestion management.
ACER's proposed options for the maximum day-ahead price are:
- keep it at Eur3,000/MWh, as originally proposed by all NEMOs;- increase it to Eur5,000/MWh;- increase it to Eur9,999/MWh, to align it with the NEMOs' proposed maximum intraday price.
ACER is asking interested parties to say which option they prefer and to give detailed reasons.
It is also proposing a different automatic adjustment mechanism for the day-ahead maximum price, plus a new automatic link to the maximum intraday price.
ACER proposes that the harmonized day-ahead maximum clearing price limit rises by Eur1,000/MWh if the hourly clearing price in one or more bidding zones is more than 60% of the maximum clearing price limit in at least one market time unit.
The NEMOs had proposed this adjustment only if the 60% was exceeded on at least three separate delivery dates in the preceding 30 days.
ACER also proposes that the maximum intraday price should be automatically adjusted so that it is always equal to or higher than the maximum day-ahead price.
On timings, ACER proposes that the new minimum and maximum prices apply in all bidding zones covered by EU coupled markets no later than January 1, 2019.
It is asking interested parties with any concerns about these proposals to give detailed reasons.
EU energy traders' association EFET criticized the NEMOs' proposals in March, saying that these technical power price caps were too low.
It recommended a price cap of "somewhere between" Eur5,000 and Eur15,000/MWh for day-ahead, and Eur20,000/MWh for intraday.
It said that day-ahead prices in coupled EU markets had already reached Eur3,000/MWh in a few instances, and that price caps needed to be nearer the value of lost load to allow free price formation.
ACER said its automatic adjustment proposals implicitly take account of value of lost load without referring to any specific value.
