Conexus starts capacities reservation for the work in the unified Estonia-Latvia balancing zone
As from today, 1 November, the unified natural gas transmission and storage operator JSC “Conexus Baltic Grid” starts accepting reservations for transmission capacities for the work in the unified Estonia-Latvia balancing zone which starts its work on 1 January 2020 where Latvia and Estonia work initially. Natural gas sellers who operate currently in Latvian gas market must conclude a new set of contracts with the operator on usage of the transmission system and balancing in the unified balancing zone till the beginning of the next year and it shall be in force both in Estonia and in Latvia.
Estonia, Latvia and Finland create a unified entry tariff zone which consists originally of two balancing zones (Estonia-Latvia and Finland) as of 1 January 2020 as the first stage for creating the unified Baltic gas market. To use the transmission system in the unified Estonia-Latvia balancing zone, the natural gas sellers need only one set of contracts regarding the system usage in the unified balancing zone and it can be concluded either with system operator “Conexus Baltic Grid” in Latvia or with “Elering” in Estonia and one – in Finland’s balancing zone. Besides, reservations for the capacities in the unified market zone for gas constant capacity product 2020 are accepted as of 1 November 2019 2 p.m.
Zane Kotāne, JSC “Conexus Baltic Grid” informs: “This is a very serious step towards changes because tariffs that were in force when transferring natural gas over the territorial borders of several countries are cancelled as of 1 January 2020. For sellers, this means less administrative burden, more free access to natural gas infrastructure, and stable and predictable tariffs ensured by such cooperation model. All changes require to review the previous procedure, so I ask the natural gas sellers not to postpone the legal procedures until the very last moment and follow actively all changes which must be done till 1 January. It must be emphasized that the operators have created a unified, international IT system ensuring centralized management of contract thus facilitating materially the daily business processes of sellers.”
Natural gas sellers must present documents as per the unified transmission system usage and balancing rules so that they can work in the unified Estonia-Latvia balancing zone after 1 January 2020. Transmission service contract and balancing contract must be concluded with the transmission system operator “Conexus”, submitting a filled-in application form beforehand.