Special rules for cross-border-storages
Special rules apply to storage facilities in Germany with cross-market area usage with regard to the granting of a discount on transport tariffs at storage points.
EWE GASSPEICHER operates storage facilities with caverns in Jemgum and Nüttermoor which are connected to several market areas (THE and TTF). As a storage operator, we are obliged to provide evidence of compliance with the REGENT and the Dutch Tariff Code gas provisions so that the transmission system operators connected to the storage facilities can offer storage customers discounted network tariffs for market-area-specific storage usage. The required evidence is provided by EWE GASSPEICHER.
More information on how the regulation affects operational storage use is provided in a “Cross-border storage usage at EWE storage locations” manual which you can download here.
REGENT:
As of 1 October 2021 the provisions of Bundesnetzagentur „Festlegung einer Referenzpreismethode sowie der weiteren in Art. 26 Abs. 1 der Verordnung (EU) 2017/460 genannten Punkte für alle Fernleitungsnetzbetreiber (BK9-19/610, „REGENT 2021“)” (following: REGENT 2021) apply to the calculation of transmission fees in Germany. In this context the fees for transmission capacities at storage facilities will be reduced by granting a 75% discount.
Some special provisions relating to the transmission fee discount are applicable to storage facilities in Germany which are connected to more than one market area and which allow a “cross-market area/border usage”.
Due to the fact that the Jemgum storage facility and parts of the Nüttermoor H-Gas storage facilities (hereafter EWE cross-border storages) are connected to more than one market area (THE and TTF), EWE GASSPEICHER GmbH as the storage system operator (SSO) has to demonstrate the compliance with the REGENT 2021 provisions to the TSO(s). This is a precondition for TSOs to offer discounted transmission fees to storage customers for a „single-market area usage“.
Cross Border:
The Dutch Tariff Code gas (‘Tarievencode gas’; “Tariff Code”) will be amended as from 1 January 2025. Under the new Tariff Code, the gas storage discount can be granted if the SSO has concluded an agreement with GTS which guarantees that the discount is only granted to the extent that the gas storage facility is used as gas storage in the TTF market area and there is no transport of gas between directly connected systems as referred to in recital 4 in the preamble and Article 9 (1) of NC-TAR (Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/460).
In order for GTS to be able to grant a 75% discount on an ex ante basis at the EWE cross-border storage facilities, EWE provides GTS with storage contract related data (THE and TTF inventories, allocations, gas in store trades, et al) for any necessary subsequent settlement of transport charges in the event of cross-border storage utilization. If the storage is used across borders, GTS will make a subsequent charge for the transport fees, so that no discount is granted for cross-border storage use.
More information on how the regulation affects operational storage use is provided in a CROSS BORDER manual which you can download here.