Electricity Regulation Act 1999 (Market Arrangements For Electricity) Regulations 2003
Statutory Instruments
Source: Statutory Instruments

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paragraphs: Citation.
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paragraphs: Interpretation.
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paragraphs: New System of Trading in Electricity.
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paragraphs: Financial Instruments.
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paragraphs: Market Arrangements for Electricity Rules.
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paragraphs: Commission's Directions to the System and Market Operator.
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paragraphs: Commission's Directions to the Board or EirGrid plc.
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paragraphs: Revocation.
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paragraphs: Commencement.
Electricity Regulation Act 1999 (Market Arrangements for Electricity) Regulations 2003
The Commission for Energy Regulation, in exercise of the powers conferred on it under Section 9 (1)(d) of the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 (No. 23 of 1999) (hereinafter referred to as “the 1999 Act”), acting in accordance with the policy direction issued to it by the Minister on 26 July 1999 under Section 9(1)(a) of the 1999 Act and having taken into account the matters raised in the public consultation process carried out by the Commission under Section 9(1)(b) of the 1999 Act, hereby makes the following Regulations for the purpose of establishing a new system of trading in electricity.
Citation.
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paragraphs: These Regulations may be cited as the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 (Market Arrangements for Electricity) Regulations 2003.
Interpretation.
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paragraphs: (1) A word or expression that is used in these Regulations and is also used in the Act has, unless the contrary intention appears, the same meaning in these Regulations as in the Act.
(2) In these Regulations, except where the context otherwise requires:
“Commission” means the Commission for Energy Regulation established under the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 as amended by the Gas (Interim) (Regulation) Act 2002 ;
“Counterparties” means suppliers and generators;
“Financial Transmission Right (FTR)” means a financial tradable instrument that allows the holder to hedge the difference between LMPs at different nodes or between LMPs and the uniform wholesale spot market price as set out in Regulation 3(14);
“Gate Closure” means the point in time prior to physical delivery when offers made by a generator with respect to a generating station or individual generating unit or by a supplier become final and changes to offers may no longer be accepted except in exceptional circumstances to be defined by the Commission under the Market Arrangements for Electricity Rules to be developed under Regulation 5;
“Generator” means a holder of a licence to generate electricity granted under Section 14 of the 1999 Act and the Board acting in its capacity as ESB Power Generation;
“Individual Generating Unit” means such a unit of a generating station;
“Locational Marginal Price (‘LMP’)” means the price per mega-watt hour (MWh) of electricity at a given node;
“Market Operation Date” means the date on which the new system of trading in electricity established by Regulation 3 comes into operation, which date shall be determined by the Commission following public consultation, but shall, in any event, be no later than 19 February 2006. That date shall be published by the Commission by a notice in a daily newspaper published and circulating in the State at least one month beforehand;
“Minister” means the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources;
“Node” means a location on the transmission and/or the distribution system where electricity is injected or withdrawn for which an LMP is calculated;
“Offer” means an offer by a generator with respect to a generating station or individual generating unit or by a supplier to the System and Market Operator to sell, to purchase or not to purchase a stated quantity of electricity at a stated price in one or more trading periods under the Market Arrangements for Electricity Rules to be developed under Regulation 5;
“Spot Market” means the mandatory centralised pool market in which the SMO purchases and sells electricity offered by generators and suppliers;
“Supplier” means a holder of a licence to supply electricity granted under Section 14 of the 1999 Act and the Board acting in its capacity as Public Electricity Supplier;
“System and Market Operator (‘SMO’)” means the National Grid Business Unit of the Board until such date as the Commission determines for the purposes of these Regulations that EirGrid plc is operating as Transmission System Operator and thereafter EirGrid plc;
“Trading and Settlement Code” means the code of that name designated under the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 (Trading Arrangements in Electricity) Regulations 2000 ( S.I. No. 49 of 2000 );
“Value of Lost Load (‘VoLL’)” means the price consumers are deemed to be willing to pay to prevent the failure to supply a mega-watt hour (MWh) of electricity as determined from time to time by the Commission using a methodology which shall be made publicly available.
(3) References in these Regulations to an enactment shall include primary and subordinate legislation and in both cases any amendment or re-enactment thereof.
New System of Trading in Electricity
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paragraphs: (1) The system of trading in electricity and settling electricity imbalances established by the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 (Trading Arrangements in Electricity) Regulations 2000 ( S.I. No. 49 of 2000 ) shall be replaced with effect from the Market Operation Date by the new system of trading in electricity established by this Regulation.
(2) The new system of trading in wholesale electricity will be a mandatory centralised pool (“the spot market”) requiring all electricity exported to or imported from the transmission system or distribution system to be sold to and bought from the SMO.
(3) The spot market will apply to all generators and suppliers except with respect to those classes of generating stations or individual generating units determined by reference to installed capacity or amount of electricity exported or likely to be exported to the transmission system or distribution system, in any calendar year or the primary source of energy used for the production of electricity so exported or any combination of these as determined by the Commission from time to time as exempt in whole or in part from such application and defined under the Market Arrangements for Electricity Rules to be developed under Regulation 5.
(4) The spot market will be an electricity only market and there will be no separate capacity payments.
(5) Generators whose generating stations or individual generating units are not called on to generate because of constraints on the transmission and/or the distribution systems, or because their offered price is too high will not receive any payments from the spot market in accordance with the Market Arrangements for Electricity Rules to be developed under Regulation 5.
(6) Generators, with respect to each individual generating unit unless exempted under paragraph 3 of this Regulation by the Commission, shall provide offers to the SMO for each trading period and may change these offers up to gate closure.
(7) A supplier may elect for some or all of its demand to be certified by the SMO as dispatchable. The balance of a supplier's demand will be treated as non-dispatchable. For its dispatchable demand a supplier will provide offers for each trading period and may change these offers up to gate closure.