Tasks of transmission, storage or LNG system operators for natural gas
1. Each transmission, storage or LNG system operator for natural gas shall:
(a)
operate, maintain, develop or decommission under economic conditions secure, reliable and efficient transmission, storage or LNG facilities for natural gas to secure an open market, with due regard to the environment and the climate and the obligations laid down in Regulation (EU) 2024/1787, and ensure adequate means to meet its service obligations;
(b)
not discriminate between system users or classes of system users, specifically in favour of its related undertakings;
(c)
provide to any other transmission system operator, any other natural gas storage system operator, any other LNG system operator or any distribution system operator sufficient information to ensure that the transport and storage of natural gas may take place in a manner compatible with the secure and efficient operation of the interconnected system;
(d)
provide system users with the information they need for efficient access to the system.
2. Each transmission system operator shall build sufficient cross-border capacity to integrate European transmission infrastructure accommodating all economically reasonable and technically feasible demands for capacity and taking into account security of gas supply.
3. Transmission system operators shall cooperate with distribution system operators to ensure the effective participation of market participants connected to the grid in retail, wholesale and balancing markets.
4. Transmission system operators shall ensure efficient gas quality management in their facilities in line with applicable gas quality standards.
5. Rules adopted by transmission system operators for balancing the gas transmission system shall be objective, transparent and non-discriminatory, including rules for the charging of system users of their networks for energy imbalance. Terms and conditions, including rules and tariffs, for the provision of such services by transmission system operators shall be established pursuant to a methodology compatible with Article 78(7) in a non-discriminatory and cost-reflective manner and shall be published.
6. Member States or, where Member States have so provided, the regulatory authorities may require transmission system operators to comply with minimum standards for the maintenance and development of the transmission system, including interconnection capacity.
7. Member States may provide that one or several tasks listed in paragraph 1 of this Article are assigned to a transmission system operator other than the one which owns the transmission system to which the responsibilities concerned would otherwise be applicable. The transmission system operator to which the tasks are assigned shall be certified under the ownership unbundling, the independent system operator or the independent transmission operator model and fulfil the requirements provided for in Article 60, but shall not be required to own the transmission system it is responsible for.
8. A transmission system operator which owns the transmission system shall fulfil the requirements provided for in Chapter IX and be certified in accordance with Article 71. This shall be without prejudice to the possibility for transmission system operators which are certified under the ownership unbundling, the independent system operator or the independent transmission operator model to delegate, on their own initiative and under their supervision, certain tasks to other transmission system operators which are certified under the ownership unbundling, the independent system operator or the independent transmission operator model, where the delegation of tasks does not endanger the effective and independent decision-making rights of the delegating transmission system operator.
9. LNG, transmission and natural gas storage system operators shall cooperate, within a Member State and regionally, to ensure the most efficient use of facilities’ capacities and of synergies between those facilities, taking into account system integrity and operation and avoiding creating constraints in operating LNG and natural gas storage facilities.
10. Transmission system operators shall procure the energy they use for the carrying out of their functions in accordance with transparent, non-discriminatory and market-based procedures.
Confidentiality for transmission system operators and transmission system owners
1. Without prejudice to Article 74 or any other legal duty to disclose information, each transmission, storage or LNG system operator for natural gas, and each transmission system owner, shall preserve the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information obtained in the course of carrying out its activities, and shall prevent information about its own activities which may be commercially advantageous from being disclosed in a discriminatory manner. If the transmission, storage or LNG system operator for natural gas, or the transmission system owner, is part of a vertically integrated undertaking, it shall not disclose, in particular, any commercially sensitive information to the remaining parts of the vertically integrated undertaking other than transmission system operators, distribution system operators or hydrogen network operators, unless this is necessary for carrying out a business transaction. In order to ensure the full respect of the rules on information unbundling, Member States shall ensure that the transmission system owner, including in the case of a combined operator the distribution system operator, and the remaining parts of the undertaking which are not transmission or distribution system operators or hydrogen network operators, do not use joint services, such as joint legal services, apart from purely administrative or IT functions.
2. Transmission, storage or LNG system operators for natural gas shall not, in the context of sales or purchases of natural gas by related undertakings, misuse commercially sensitive information obtained from third parties in the context of providing or negotiating access to the system.
3. Information necessary for effective competition and the efficient functioning of the market shall be made public. That obligation shall be without prejudice to protecting commercially sensitive information.
Decision-making powers regarding the connection of production facilities for renewable gas and low-carbon gas to the transmission system
1. The transmission system operator shall establish and publish transparent and efficient procedures for non-discriminatory connection of production facilities for renewable gas and low-carbon gas, in line with the capacities identified in the ten-year network development plan referred to in Article 55. Those procedures shall be subject to approval by the regulatory authorities. Member States may grant production facilities for biomethane priority to connect.
2. The transmission system operators shall not be entitled to refuse economically reasonable and technically feasible connection requests of a new or of an existing but not yet connected production facility for renewable gas and low-carbon gas, except under the conditions set out in Article 38.
3. For the purpose of the swift implementation of grid connection of biomethane production, Member States shall endeavour to ensure that the transmission system operator complies with reasonable time limits to assess requests for the injection of biomethane, make an offer and implement the connection, under the monitoring by the regulatory authorities carried out in accordance with Article 78(1), point (t).
Decision-making powers regarding the connection to the transmission system and the hydrogen transmission network
1. The transmission system operator and the hydrogen transmission network operator shall establish and publish transparent and efficient procedures and tariffs for non-discriminatory connection of natural gas and hydrogen storage facilities, LNG facilities, hydrogen terminals and industrial customers to the transmission system and the hydrogen transmission network. Those procedures shall be subject to approval by the regulatory authority.
2. The transmission system operator and the hydrogen transmission network operator shall not be entitled to refuse the connection of a new natural gas or hydrogen storage facility, LNG facility, hydrogen terminal or industrial customer on the grounds of possible future limitations to available network capacities or additional costs linked with necessary capacity increase. The transmission system operator and hydrogen transmission network operator shall ensure sufficient entry and exit capacity for the new connection.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
