La Tasa Mínima Atractiva de Rendimiento (TMAR)

As in the previous reporting year, questions were raised about the booking, use, availability and booking preference for transport capacity. A more precise distinction was made for the first time between different capacity products.

Shippers were asked about their preference for different capacity products. They were asked to state on a scale from 1 (for very important) to 4 (unimportant) whether in addition to firm and freely allocable capacity (FZK) only interruptible capacity products should be offered or wheth- er, in contrast, interruptible capacity and other firm capacity products should be offered in ad- dition to firm FZK. The results are shown by dividing shippers (wholesalers and suppliers) into three categories: shippers who had no capacity bookings in gas year 2010/11 and shippers who, in terms of total entry and exit bookings, had booked more or less than 1 million kWh/h of firm and interruptible capacity.

A slim majority of 55 percent (as against 45 percent) of shippers who had booked more than one million kWh/h in the reporting period would prefer only interruptible capacity to be offered in addition to FZK. In contrast, 55 percent of shippers with bookings of up to one million kWh/h take precisely the opposite view and favour additional firm capacity products. It is important to remember, however, that many shippers have had no practical experience to date with other firm capacity products. Compared with other types of products the share of approximately five percent is relatively low in relation to overall booked entry and exit capacity. There is no dis- cernible clear preference either for a "two-class capacity model" or for a "multi-class capacity model". The following diagram shows the results, including the number of responses.

Preference for different capacity products 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Only firm FZK & interruptible Firm FZK, other firm products and

interruptible

≥ 1,000,000 kWh/h 0 to 1,000,000 kWh/h 0 kWh/h

11 58 119 9 66 110

Percent

Figure 104: Preference for different capacity products: firm FZK & interruptible vs. firm FZK, other firm products and interruptible

Six shippers were affected by transformations of firm FZK capacity into other capacity prod- ucts in the gas year 2010/11. A total of approximately 50.2 million kWh/h and 3.5 million kWh/h of firm FZK capacity was transformed on the entry side and exit side, re- spectively. One reason for the necessary switch from firm FZK capacity to other capacity products was the merger of market areas. The impact of the market merger on the capacity products offered was evaluated by asking network operators about the scale on which differ- ent capacity products were offered on 15 March 2011 (prior to the reduction from six to three market areas) and 15 October 2011 (following reduction from three to two market areas). This survey looked at the total capacity already being marketed plus the still available capacities. In contrast, as far as interruptible capacities are concerned, the survey only looked at the total capacity marketed on the relevant date as unlimited interruptible capacities are offered in some cases.

The results for both market areas on the relevant dates for entry and exit capacities are shown separately in the following diagram. In this context it is important to note that the total capacity shown for the NCG market area on 15 March already includes the values for all transmission system operators after the merger (ie incl. Thyssengas and OGE L-Gas) to ensure compara- bility. The information for both reporting dates therefore includes data from Open Grid Europe

L-Gas, Open Grid Europe H-Gas, Thyssengas L-Gas, Thyssengas H-Gas, terranets BW, bay- ernets, Fluxys TENP and grtGaz Deutschland.

Offer of entry gas capacity

0 kWh/h 50 kWh/h 100 kWh/h 150 kWh/h 200 kWh/h 250 kWh/h 300 kWh/h 350 kWh/h 400 kWh/h 450 kWh/h

Gaspool NetConnect Germany

Millionen

feste FZK bFZK DZK BZK unterbr. FZK

Figure 105: Change in offered entry capacity as a result of the reduction in market areas in the calendar year 2011 Offer of gas exit capacity

0 kWh/h 50 kWh/h 100 kWh/h 150 kWh/h 200 kWh/h 250 kWh/h

Gaspool NetConnect Germany

Millionen

feste FZK bFZK DZK BZK unterbr. FZK

Figure 106: Change in offered exit capacity as a result of the reduction in market areas in calendar year 2011

The diagrams clearly illustrate that the merger of market areas impacted entry capacities in particular. There was a reduction in firm FZK capacity (-48 GWh/h) in the NCG market area in particular and an increase in capacity with conditional firmness and allocability (bFZK; +36 GWh/h). It is also important to note that the data on exit capacity does not encompass internal bookings but only the exit capacity which can be booked by shippers.

The market area merger and the fact that it is consequently no longer possible to book points between what were formerly separate market areas means that the offer of firm transport ca- pacity, in particular firm and freely allocable capacity (FZK), has been reduced at the remain- ing points. The outcome in both cases is that less firm capacity was booked and the relative share of interruptible bookings in relation to firm capacity bookings rose by over 35 percent during the year under review.

The following table reproduces the information provided by wholesalers and suppliers con- cerning interruptible capacity bookings in recent years.

Entry Exit

Year pacity in million Interruptible ca- kWh/h Share of booked firm capacity in percent Interruptible ca- pacity in million kWh/h

Share of booked firm capacity in percent 2011 127 38 76 35 2010 127 34 56 30 2009 137 21 71 23 2008 116 22 91 26 2007 44 8 59 10

Table 40: Interruptible capacity bookings in the reporting years 2007 to 2011

18 of 62 wholesalers and suppliers who have entered into contracts for interruptible capacity stated that interruptions had actually occurred in the 2010/11 gas year; one shipper was una- ble to specify the length of interruption and is consequently not included in the diagram below. This means that more than twice as many wholesalers and suppliers are affected than in the gas year 2010/2011 (when seven were affected). As in previous reporting years the number of interruptions and the length of such interruptions are distributed very differently among individ- ual wholesalers and suppliers. In addition to the average interruption duration in hours (column height), the following diagram also shows the absolute number of interruptions (figures in white along the horizontal axis) for each wholesaler and supplier in the corresponding gas year. Compared with previous years, the total average interruption duration has fallen once again (gas year 2009/10: 26 hours; gas year 2010/11: 17 hours). In conclusion, while more shippers were more frequently affected by an interruption, on average such interruptions were considerably shorter than in previous years.

Figure 107: Number of interruptions and average interruption duration per wholesaler or supplier for gas years 2008/09, 2009/10 and 2010/11.

The diagram can be explained by a brief explanation of a single example. The company with the highest interruption duration in gas year 2010/11 (column 1) experienced a total of three interruptions lasting on average 43 hours. The total for all capacity contracts for this company adds up to an overall interruption duration of 129 hours. A second company (eg column 3) was interrupted much more frequently in the gas year 2010/11 (112 interruptions), on average however for just 23 hours in each case. As a result, the total interruption duration for this com- pany is 2,576 hours, significantly higher than is the case for the first company. The total inter- ruption duration for all companies concerned was slightly longer than in the previous year (gas year 2009/10: 8053 hours; gas year 2010/11: 8787 hours).

Similarly, network operators were asked about the duration of interruption and the volume of interruptible and firm capacity products in relation to the initial nomination at 14.00 hours on

total volume transported in the gas year 2010/11 only 0.18 percent of the nominated gas vol- ume was actually interrupted.

The following map shows the regional distribution of actual interruptions in the gas year 2010/11. In this context it is important to note that the width of each arrow grows in pro- portion to the share of the volume interrupted in relation to total interruptions. Capacities are shown as weighted averages in relation to total interruptions in hours and the total nominated volume across all points in the respective region. This means that where capacities are identi- cal but the arrows wider, interruptions were more frequent, in other words took place over a longer period or several times during the gas year, in the region to which the wider arrow be- longs; in weighted average terms the same capacity (level) was interrupted. The direction of the arrows shows in what direction transmission was interrupted. The red arrow – storage in northern storage facilities – shows that in this region it was mostly firm capacity products (in particular bFZK) which were interrupted. Interruptions between market areas (interruption vol- ume ten percent; average capacity of approximately 290,000 kWh/h) and to final customers (interruption volume 0.02 percent; average capacity 143,602 kWh/h) are not illustrated.