15th Athens Forum

25-26 November 2009 Athens, Greece

Conclusions
DAY 1
A. Session 1 3rd Package
1. The Forum welcomed the presentation of the European Commission on the 3rd legislative
package and underlined the need to ensuring that citizens can take advantage of the benefits
provided by a truly competitive energy market.
2. The Forum welcomed the presentation of ERGEG on the structure and tasks of the Agency
for Cooperation of Energy Regulators as well as the potentials of regulatory cooperation for
effective regulation. The Forum confirmed that the provisions of the 3rd package as relating to
independence of regulators and harmonisation of regulatory rules on a cross-national basis
are of utmost importance for the process of energy market opening.
3. The Forum acknowledges the significance of the 3rd package as a step forward to foster the
competitiveness within the internal electricity market, ensure non-discrimination in relation to
network access and enhance the regulatory supervision at national and European level.
4. The Forum welcomed the presentation of ENTSO-E on its organizational setting and
congratulated ENTSO-E for the steps already taken with regard to forming a body for
harmonisation of TSO related activities. The Forum took positive note of the TSOs of the SEE
Region being represented in the organisational structure of ENTSO-E and underlined the
need for regional coordination of TSOs on Energy Community level.
5. The Forum thanked the representative of the Pentalateral Forum on highlighting the essential
role of governments on supporting the regional integration of the electricity markets. The
Forum underlined that active engagement of governments and their cooperation and
coordination on regional level remains of utmost importance for ensuring proper
implementation of the Energy Community acquis. The Forum expressed firm expectation that
the example from the Pentalateral Forum would inspire the PHLG and MC on developing
active regional governmental cooperation.
Session 2 Coordinated Auction Office
6. The Forum welcomed the presentation of the Chairman of the SEE CAO Project Team
Steering Committee on the progress made on setting up a Coordinated Auction Office for
Cross Border Transmission Capacities in the SEE Region (SEE CAO).
7. The Forum explicitly welcomed the commitment of the participating TSOs/ISOs in the Project
Team on setting up the SEE CAO and underlined the need for direct guidance from
governments to TSOs requesting them full engagement in concrete preparations for the SEE
CAO and active involvement in the work of the Project Team. The Forum strongly
emphasized the obligation to implement a regionally coordinated capacity allocation and
congestion management mechanism stemming from Regulation (EC) 1228/2003 and its
annexed guidelines. Responsibility for implementation clearly remains with the Contracting
Parties. Related to this, the Forum invited the upcoming Ministerial Council to provide clear
political guidance on how to fulfill the legal obligations of Regulation (EC) 1228/2003 and the
decision of the Ministerial Council on establishing a coordinated capacity calculation and
allocation mechanism for the 8th Region.
8. The Forum thanked International Financing Institutions for their support and principle
commitments taken as regards the financing of the SEE CAO Project Team.
9. The Forum expressed its concerns about a few key TSOs from SEE not participating in the
SEE CAO Project Team Steering Committee meetings so far and invited all TSOs to
participate. However, the Forum also stressed that the setting up of the SEE CAO shall not
be postponed.
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10. The Forum concluded that the European Commission, the Energy Community and each
respective government should come up with a mutually acceptable solution ensuring the
participation of all SEE TSOs in the establishment and the successful operation of the
regional CAO.

Session 3 The consumer dimension

11. The Forum thanked the ECRB for its input to the common understanding of vulnerable
costumers and recalled the need to put adequate measures in place to protect those
customers. These measures should be market oriented and should not distort competition. In
this context the Forum also referred to the important role of overall Social Action Plans of the
Contracting Parties.
12. The Forum welcomed the presentation of the ECRB on quality of electricity services
standards and incentives in quality regulation prepared by the ECRB and asked the ECRB to
continue its work in this direction. The Forum stressed that quality of supply is the basis of a
functioning electricity market and that it is therefore of highest importance. The Forum
outlined that TSOs, DSOs as well as regulators are tasked to guarantee the best possible
level of service quality.
13. The Forum welcomed the presentation by the Croatian Ministry of Economy, Labor and
Entrepreneurship on the experience of market opening and the impact of market opening
on customers in Croatia. The Forum concluded that it is important for the governments to
consider the social dimension of market opening by market orientated approaches without
administrative intervention into inherent mechanisms of the electricity markets and without
distorting competition. In this respect the Forum underlined that regulated price regimes - and
in particular those applying artificially low prices - impede the development of a competitive
market.
DAY 2
Session 4 Wholesale Market Integration
14. The Forum welcomed the update by World Bank and its consultants Nord Pool Consulting &
Pyry Energy on the findings and recommendations of the Wholesale Market Opening Study.
The Forum took note of the different regional wholesale market integration options presented
including a centralized and a decentralized scenario. The first candidates that have shown
preliminary interest for a regional day-ahead market coupling include Bulgaria-Romania,
Romania-Serbia and Hungary-Romania. The Forum urged Contracting Parties to put in place
complementary arrangements which would facilitate the integration of the currently
fragmented wholesale markets including the use of auctions and other transparent
contracting practices for incumbent generators, a gradual elimination of regulated final
customer prices and better access to cross-border transmission infrastructure. The Forum
supported the urge of World Bank for governments and regulators to take the necessary
steps for market opening and emphasized the decisive role of the TSOs in creation of the
preconditions for market opening.
15. The Forum urged the Contracting Parties to proceed with relevant steps in reviewing their
legal and regulatory frameworks to allow effective competition in wholesale electricity trading
noting that the current relatively low wholesale electricity prices levels created a favorable
environment to implement the measures for wholesale market opening with less impact on
the end-users electricity price. In this respect the Forum reiterated its expectation to align
electricity market opening in the Contracting parties brought in compliance with the
requirements of the Treaty and reminded governments of the need to eliminate distortive
measures that prevent wholesale market opening such as regulated electricity prices for the
eligible customers and lack of cost reflectivity of household customers tariffs.
16. The Forum thanked EFET and Eurelectric for their presentations on the progress perceived
by traders as regards the development of wholesale market trading in SEE. The Forum took
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note of the remaining challenges and encouraged the responsible bodies to actively promote
the removal of transaction-based fees, increased transparency, more power to national
regulatory authorities and the proper definition of transmission capacities and convergence
and consistency across borders. In addition the Forum took note of the importance of
including issues concerning carbon trading into wholesale market development
considerations. EFET proposed to include the Greek power market in future considerations
with respect to integration of the regional market.
17. The representatives of OPCOM and BSP South Pool summarized the current initiatives of the
two existing power exchanges in SEE region aimed at facilitating wholesale market
integration. The Forum welcomed the related developments as positive signals for
cooperation across borders and supported day-ahead price coupling between markets. The
Forum underlined the importance of organized markets for the development of liquid energy
trading and for security of supply by providing reliable price signals for investors.
18. The Forum welcomed the ECRB presentation on harmonization of wholesale trade licensing.
The Forum underlined the importance of a harmonized approach regarding licenses and
expressed its concerns about the variety of different licensing regimes in the region creating
an artificial barrier for cross border trading. Thus, the Forum supported a gradual phase-out
of licensing requirements after putting in place the relevant preconditions by the Contracting
Parties. With a view to ensuring convergence of regions, the Forum welcomed the emphasis
of the ECRB on streamlining its recommendations with developments on European level and
invited the ECRB to present possible adjustments of its position to the next Forum. The
Forum suggested approaching the Ministerial Council based on the final ECRB
recommendation on taking a decision on harmonised wholesale trade licensing (Art 34
Energy Community Treaty) in 2010.
Session 5 Investment Environment in SEE
19. The Forum took note of the progress registered by the SECI project on identification of
uncertainties in transmission system planning through additional system planning until 2015
2020 developed with USAID assistance. The need to ensure an increased level of security
of supply while minimizing the costs for the systems development in the region for the benefit
of the customers has played a driving role for regional development of transmission networks.
20. The Forum thanked USAID for its presentation on the status of SYNENERGY Strategy
Planning project looking to effect of efficiency in reduction of demand for energy and the role
of renewable energy in the region. With a view to meeting the future electricity demand the
Forum underlined the importance to support the related energy development policies and to
understand the demand patterns to better address the investment needed in the generation
and electricity networks.
21. The Forum thanked the Donors Community for their support and underlined the important
role of Donors and ongoing commitment on political and regulatory level to create the proper
investment environment in the SEE region.
22. The Forum thanked the Energy Community Secretariat for its update on the investment
options in the Energy Community and on recent developments in the electricity infrastructure
upgrade. The important role of the integrated regional market as key factor for optimal use of
the infrastructure and effective allocation of new investments was underlined in this
perspective as well. The Forum urged the Contracting Parties to coordinate their national
investment priorities with those which are necessary for improvement of overall security of
energy supply in the SEE region.
23. The Forum urged the Contracting Parties to take all necessary measures to ensure the
proper environment for infrastructure investments and to maintain an adequate level of
security of supply as required by the Directive 2005/89/EC, due to be implemented by the
end of 2009.