Policy Win: National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Utilities Postponed the Implementation of the Neutrality Fee

The American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine (the Chamber) welcomes the decision of the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Utilities  (NEURC) to postpone the implementation of the neutrality fee.

The Chamber has consistently supported the initiatives to create an effective market-based mechanism for transparent and open cooperation between gas market participants and the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU), needed in the framework of balancing requirements.

However, the arrangement of such a market-based mechanism was expressly questioned due to the lack of GTSOU ability to undertake balancing actions through purchasing short-term standardized products on a trading platform, the insufficient transparency of the neutrality fee components as well as disparity of the gas volumes used in its calculation.

While efforts to enhance the efficient balancing regime and the development of the short-term wholesale market are underway, the Chamber requested the Energy Community Secretariat to support the amendments postponing the commence of the 2nd and 3rd stages of neutrality fee implementation by one gas year.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine welcomes the adoption of NEURC's decision to postpone the neutrality fee implementation.   The Chamber member companies  hope that it will rectify the shortcomings by enhancing work on the development of a new transparent and non-discriminatory methodology for calculating the neutrality fee in accordance with the EU norms.