Author: Christine Müller
Summary
As per the incentive regulation ordinance, the second regulatory period gas (2013-2018) includes the implementation of a quality regulation scheme. This raises the issue how to specify, define and stimulate quality specifically in gas transportation and distribution. Moreover the dimensions "reliability" and "network capacity" need to be incorporated in a regulatory incentive scheme according to §§ 18 - 20 ARegV. Due to its lack of visibility, the issue of gas quality turns out to be much more complex than in the electricity sector where quality or – more specifically reliability – is mainly associated with the premiss "keeping the lights on".
In order to establish a first idea of the current situation in the area of quality regulation in the gas sector, WIK conducted expert interviews with different stakeholders from industry and science. The expert interviews took place in the first and second quarter 2010. Followed by this step a workshop organised by the Federal Network Agency took place on 24th of June 2010 to present the results from the survey and to further discuss the main issues. Overall, it turned out from the discussion that the definition and differentiation of the different quality dimensions is very complex due to the different views of the stakeholders on prioritisation and incentives. Therefore the first critical step should involve a clear definition of the different quality dimensions and a the establishment of a robust data basis in order to gain insights in the quantitative and qualitative interdependencies between different quality dimensions. In a second step operational causalities should be formulated, which could eventually be transformed in input and output indicators.
The expert interview and the workshop delivered a first insight in the different views and opinions. The discussion should be continued on this basis.
(Full version only available in German language)
Discussion Paper is available for download.
