Agreement on harmonisation of the BRP imbalance fee level for Sweden, Norway and Finland
Svenska kraftnät, Statnett and Fingrid have agreed to harmonise the imbalance fee level at 1.15 EUR/MWh from the go-live of Single Price on 1 November 2021 (*). Energinet is currently investigating the fee level nationally and will revert back later on the possibility of joining the harmonised fee level.
With the introduction of Single Price, market participants will have a financial incentive to self-balance in real-time. Within the framework of the Nordic balancing model, such behaviour is not desirable. Therefore, Nordic TSOs have proposed a set of mitigation measures to follow the desired behaviour which is planning in balance and following production plans. One of these mitigation measures is an increased imbalance fee level. The imbalance fee will be charged from the balance responsible party (BRP).
The Nordic TSOs’ reasoning behind the BRP fee structure and fee levels have previously been published in the Common Nordic Market Design paper and the Nordic TSO responses to stakeholder feedback to the common design paper. All the Nordic TSOs support the imbalance fee and have been involved in the discussions about the possibility of harmonising the fee level. The above-mentioned documents describe how the key focus of the discussions has been the possibility of harmonising the fee level. This is important as the imbalance fee impacts the dispatch decisions of the market participants in the common Nordic balancing market. Moving imbalances between bidding zones due to different fee levels impacts the dimensioning of reserves and distribution of costs. It benefits large market participants active across the countries. The imbalance fee level for consumption imbalances has been harmonised within a common range for the Nordic TSOs since 2009, and has been harmonised at 0.5 EUR/MWh in Sweden, Norway and Finland since 1 January 2021.
The harmonised fee level has been set based on national assessments of appropriate fee levels. There is a certain divergence between purely national perspectives and a common perspective, as cost bases, local incentives, and impacts varies. However, between Sweden, Norway and Finland it has been important to maintain the current level of harmonisation and avoid adverse incentives across the countries. Energinet is currently investigating the fee level nationally and will later assess the possibility of joining the harmonised fee level. Energinet supports the harmonisation and agrees to the importance of avoiding moving imbalances, but needs more time to reach a sufficient understanding of national perspectives and impacts before drawing conclusions regarding the increase of the fee level. Svenska kraftnät, Statnett and Fingrid welcome Energinet to join at a later point in time.
For any questions, please contact your local TSO representative.
(*) Subject to national NRA approvals of fee structure where necessary and Svenska kraftnät board approval of fee level in Sweden.