D. Desarrollo profesional
3. Tipos de Estrategias de desarrollo profesional
The price spikes on the spot markets generally did not have a short-term effect on end consumers’ bills. In fact, consumers generally have a supply contract where the price is either fixed or varies by prior agreement. The price risk is therefore borne by the supplier. In the long term, however, repeated price spikes could lead to changes in suppliers’ offers.
Moreover, specifically with regard to gas, the CRE noted that as spot price spikes had only spread to futures products with shorter maturities to a very slight extent, the reference price used to calculate regulated gas sales tariffs was unaffected by this episode1. ■
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1 – When calculating the regulated sales tariff, the monthly average of the quarterly product price (Q+1 index at the TTF) is used as a reference price for the gas market (see http://www. cre.fr/marches/marche-de-detail/marche-du-gaz).
2.1. the Cre’s monitoring role is now part of a european framework
The law of 7 December 2006 entrusted the CRE with the mission of monitoring the wholesale gas and electricity markets. Article L.131-2 of the Energy Code states that “the French Energy Regulatory Commission monitors electricity and natural gas transactions carried out between suppliers, traders and producers, transactions carried out on the organised markets as well as cross-border trades. It monitors the consistency of the offers […] made by producers, traders and suppliers […] with their economic and technical constraints”.
The law of 22 October 2010 on banking and financial regulation extended the CRE’s monitoring remit to include transactions by players on the electricity and gas market, and the CO2 market: “As part of its missions, the CRE monitors transactions between suppliers, traders and producers of electricity and natural gas in relation to greenhouse gas emission allowances [...], as well as the futures contracts and financial instruments which they underpin, in order to analyse the consistency of these transactions
with the economic, technical and regulatory constraints placed on the activities of suppliers, traders and producers of electricity and natural gas” (art L. 131-3 of the Energy Code).
The CRE’s mission of monitoring the wholesale markets thus consists of ensuring that prices on the markets are consistent with the funda- mentals, i.e. the technical and economic factors that influence supply and demand, such as fuel prices, availability of means of production and infrastructures. It is particularly committed to ensuring that no player abuses their position on the market to obtain abnormal prices, with regard to their costs in particular.
The CRE’s monitoring mission now operates under the European Regulation on Wholesale Energy Markets Integrity and Transparency or REMIT4 (see box p. 44). In force since 28 December 2011, REMIT establishes a regulatory framework that prohibits market manipulations and insider trading on the energy markets. The regulations 4 – See REMIT, regulation (EU) No. 1227/2011, published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 8 December 2011.
˘ The CRE systematically analysed the behaviour and operational decisions of EDF and its trading subsidiary EDF Trading for the delivery days of 9 and 10 February 2012. Trading floor at the EDF Trading office in London. © Ph. Eranian. ¯ Repairing an overhead power line following bad weather. Intervention by an employee of the FIRE (Force d'Intervention Rapide Electricité). © ERDF – P. Robin
work in conjunction with financial regulations, which are under review, and require interactions with the carbon market to be included in the market monitoring process5.
REMIT organises the supervision of the wholesale energy markets (financial and non-financial products relating to energy) at the European level, by assigning it to the Agency for the Cooperation of European Regulators (ACER), in cooperation with the national regulators. The roles are divided between them so that the national regulators cooperate with the ACER with the aim of understanding the national markets and ensuring the integrity of the markets6. Market players are listed by the national regulators in a national register. The data is then sent to ACER by the national regulators. The ACER is in charge of gathering data on transactions and fundamentals from the market players7. To do this, the ACER can use a range of tools, such as central reference documents. In order to avoid double reporting, the data can then be shared with the national 5 – See REMIT articles 1 and 10.3.
6 – See REMIT articles 7.1 and 7.2. 7 – See REMIT articles 8 and 10.
regulators, financial regulators and competition authorities. Strict confidentiality and data protection clauses are applicable in this area. The content and scope of the data to be provided by the market players will be defined by executive measures taken by the European Commission. The adoption of these measures, scheduled for 2013, will mark the start of the operational implementation of the scheme planned by REMIT. The requirement for market players to register will come into force three months after the executive acts have been adopted, and the data gathering requirement will come into force six months afterwards.
If it suspects that a market manipulation or insider trading is taking place, the ACER can ask one or more national regulators to carry out an investigation, which the latter will be obliged to do. Where applicable, the national regulators must also penalise the players concerned, in an effective, proportionate and dissuasive way8. The CRE has been given the necessary authority to fulfil these new missions.
˘ In France, as well as national dispatching, seven regional dispatching centres monitor and run the high and very high tension network to ensure a constant balance between supply and demand. Regional dispatching for the Normandy-Paris region in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (78). © RTE – V. Colombel
2.2. the Cre’s investigations follow formal procedures
During its investigations, the CRE may conduct hearings with certain market players. In the case of the price spikes in February 2012, it contacted EDF, the dominant incumbent player, as well as EPEX SPOT, the marketplace where these high prices were reached, to ask for an explanation of how this was able to happen. ˘ page 109 For the electricity market, the CRE started by analysing the supply and demand fundamentals to which it had access, like data on consumption forecasts and the availability of the power plants that the hourly production margins resulted from. Market prices for electricity, which are very sensitive to downward variations in production margins, were analysed with regard to these margins. The CRE’s departments also took account of flows at interconnections and interventions by players on the market.
The CRE systematically analysed the behaviour and operational decisions of EDF and its trading subsidiary EDF Trading for the delivery days of 9 and 10 February 2012. Information provided by