NEURC Brought Secondary Legislation in Line with the Law on "Green" Transformation

The Resolution provides for amendments to the NEURC Resolution "On Approval of Regulatory Acts Governing the Activities of the Guaranteed Buyer (GB) and the Purchase of Electricity at the Feed-in Tariff (FIT)" No. 641 dated 26 April 2019, namely:

are set out in a new version:

• the Procedure for the purchase of electricity generated from renewable energy sources (RES) by the GB to determine the cost of the service to ensure an increase in the share of electricity production from RES and to determine the cost of the service under the market premium mechanism
• the Model agreement for the purchase and sale of electricity under the FIT
• the Model agreement for the provision of services to ensure an increase in the share of electricity production from RES

are being approved:

• the Model agreement on participation in the balancing group of the GB (concluded between the GB and RES producers who want to join the balancing group of the GB)
• the Model agreement on the provision of services to support the production of electricity from RES under the market premium mechanism

These amendments mean that SE "Guaranteed Buyer" and the members of the balancing group of the GB are obliged to bring the agreement for the purchase and sale of electricity under the FIT in line with the model agreement for the purchase and sale of electricity under the FIT approved by the NEURC no later than the date of entry into force of the relevant provisions of the Law on "Green" Transformation (namely, by 26 January 2024) and conclude an agreement on participation in the balancing group of the GB. If a member of the balancing group of the GB fails to update the mentioned agreements, the GB will not take into account the forecast data of electricity supply provided by such a member of the balancing group of the GB, the commercial metering administrator will not take into account the actual data of electricity supply by the electrical installations of such a member of the balancing group of the GB, and the GB will not buy the electricity produced by such a member.

The Resolution approves amendments to the Market Rules approved by NEURC Resolution No. 307 dated 14 March 2018, which relate to the part of determining the volume of unreleased electricity, i.e. the difference between the volume of electricity that should have been supplied and the volume of electricity actually received by the consumer.

The Resolution imposes the following obligations to resolve the issue of imbalances:

• the transmission system operator (TSO), the producers of electricity under the FIT and the distribution system operators (DSOs) must, no later than 1 March 2024, determine, and provide to the GB the volumes of unreleased electricity by electricity producers under the FIT in the period from 8 September 2022 to 26 January 2024
• the GB, the producers of electricity under the FIT and the DSOs must, no later than 1 April 2024, settle the relations regarding the reimbursement of a share of the cost of settling the electricity imbalance and the cost of deviation arising from 8 September 2022 to 26 January 2024, as well as the calculation and approval of the cost of the service to ensure an increase in the share of electricity production from RES

Also, the following NEURC resolutions are no longer valid:

• "On Approval of the Model Electricity Purchase and Sale Agreement between the GB and the business entity that acquired the right to support based on the results of the auction" No. 2803 dated 13 December 2019
• "On Approval of the Procedure for the Sale and Metering of Electricity Generated by Consumers, as well as Payments for It" No. 2804 dated 13 December 2019

The Resolution entered into force on 26 January 2024, except for the provisions regarding the invalidation of the NEURC resolutions and the approval of the Model Agreement on Participation in the Balancing Group of the GB, which entered into force on 25 January 2024.

By Yaroslav Petrov, Partner, Asters