No grounds for suspending Ukrenergo's certification, electricity imports - regulator
MOSCOW. Oct 15 (Interfax) - Ukraine's National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission (NEURC) has denied the presence of any grounds to suspend Ukrenergo's certification as an independent transmission system operator (TSO), as well as any threat to electricity imports due to that.
"We note that as of today, there are no grounds for suspending the certification of the transmission system operator or the impossibility of using cross-border flows to receive electricity imports," Ukrainian media quoted NEURC as saying in a statement on its website.
NEURC confirmed that it has received a letter of Energy Community Secretariat Director Artur Lorkowski dated October 9, 2024, which reiterated the need to ensure that the Ukrainian transmission system operator Ukrenergo remains in compliance with the unbundling requirements of Directive (EU) No. 2019-944, dated June 5, 2019, on common rules for the internal electricity market, as adapted and adopted (the Electricity Directive).
In addition, the Energy Community Secretariat has informed NEURC of the need to finish forming the grid operator's Supervisory Board.
"It should be noted that all the necessary procedures for this are already taking place within the established timeframe and in the prescribed manner," NEURC said.
"Any media information regarding a threat to electricity imports is outright manipulation on the eve of the heating season to destabilize society, it said.
Ukrainian Energy Research Center Director Alexander Kharchenko said earlier in an article for the Energeticheskaya Pravda media outlet, when commenting on Lorkowski's letter, that Ukrenergo's loss of its certification poses a threat to electricity imports, which became possible following the synchronization of the Ukrainian and European grids in 2022.
As reported, Lorkowski said in his letter to NEURC head Yury Vlasenko that Ukrenergo fails to comply with a number of terms for its certification in December 2021. Specifically, Lorkowski demanded that all independent members be appointed to Ukrenergo's Supervisory Board until December 9, 2024, when the term in office of Roman Piontkovsky, the board's only independent member left, expires, and that the company's Charter be amended to boost the role of its Supervisory Board.
In order to avert a conflict of interests due to the Ukrainian Energy Ministry's double role as a shareholder and an energy policy setter, an order was issued to create a new separate structural division within the ministry in charge of coordination and interaction between fuel and energy operators, under the direct subordination of the designated deputy minister. However, it is not clear at this point to what extent the new unit is functioning.
In addition, Lorkowski called for a review of the Energy Ministry's order that authorizes the energy minister to introduce control measures and make decisions beyond the scope of a system owner under the ISO model for unbundling.
"Each of the aspects described above represents, by itself, a ground for the re-opening of the certification procedure, as each of them represents a serious obstacle to the independent functioning of Ukrenergo as transmission system operator," Lorkowski said in his letter.