Market regulation

In Italy

The Electricity and Gas Authority has regulated the gas transportation, storage, regasification and distribution segments in Italy since 1997.

In the context of market liberalisation, regulation over time has become a tool enabling the economically sustainable development of infrastructure and non-discriminatory access to services by all operators in the free market.

The quality and regularity of relations between Snam and the Electricity and Gas Authority play a key part in this process. Over the years, Snam has established constructive dialogue and proactive cooperation with the Authority by continually maintaining an advisory role and providing the necessary support to changes in the regulatory framework of the natural gas segment.

Specifically, the Group’s companies individually:

• respond, either directly or through trade associations, to the public consultations that the Authority holds on different activities in the segment prior to defining new regulations or revising current ones;
• take part in technical working groups established by the Authority on changes to the regulatory framework;
• draft changes to the transportation, distribution, storage and regasification Network Codes, which are then submitted to the Authority for approval;
• participate in gathering data and in surveys conducted during the year for purposes of evaluating the status of the sector or of the individual services, and periodically send the data requested in compliance with reporting obligations.

The table below summarises relations with the Electricity and Gas Authority for each regulated segment.

In Europe

On a European level, the Electricity and Gas Authority is part of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) and Snam Rete Gas is part of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG). These two bodies develop European Network Codes and guidelines to regulate the access and use of cross-border infrastructure and to help towards creating a single gas market.

In this area, Snam Rete Gas played an active part in the process of defining the European Codes in 2013, collaborating with regulatory authorities and commercial and infrastructure operators to prepare common rules for balancing and interoperability, which are in the process of being adopted in law. In 2014, European Codes will be developed on pricing and the sale of newly created transportation capacity.

Snam Rete Gas also played an active part in the process of preparing the Community-wide ten-year network development plan (TYNDP), published by ENTSOG in February last year, and is also working with other infrastructure operators to draft two regional investment plans, one on the south-north corridor and one focusing on the south-east, involving new natural gas supply guidelines in the Caspian Sea area.

Through ENTSOG and GIE (Gas Infrastructure Europe, an association of European transportation, storage and regasification infrastructure operators), Snam also helped to prepare about 20 responses to public consultations relating to documents mainly proposed by the European Commission and ACER. The main themes subject to consultation related to the development of EU energy policies, changes to the Gas Target Model and the guidelines relating to European Codes. To facilitate the process of harmonising rules, Snam Rete Gas joined with 18 other transportation operators to create the company PRISMA, with the aim of early implementation of European provisions on the sale of capacity (the CAM Code) using a single, shared IT platform. Specifically, in April, the daily sale of capacity began between the Austrian exchange point at Baumgarten and the Italian gas system at the Tarvisio entry point, in coordination with the Austrian regulator and the interconnected transmission operator.