PUC Council has approved the amendments in calculation method of natural gas storage tariffs

Council of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has approved the amendments in the calculation method of natural gas storage tariffs. The amendments are elaborated to facilitate the interest in use of Inčukalns Underground Gas Storage when opening the natural gas market in Latvia. The approved amendments allow reacting more flexibly on the changes in the natural gas market.

The method anticipates the differentiation possibilities of natural gas storage tariffs, and there’s a possibility to introduce alternating market price tariffs and auction mechanisms in the draft tariff. PUC has also specified the enumeration of values to be included in the regulated assets base that ensures that only those assets participating in the service provision are included in the tariff estimate.

Before approval of the amendments, PUC announced a public consultation to find out the opinion of market players and other concerned parties regarding the suggested amendments. The deadline for submitting the suggestions and comments was 12 January 2018. During the consultations, opinions of several concerned parties (AS “Latvenergo”, JSC “Conexus Baltic Grid”, AS “Sadales tīkls”, AS “Gaso”, Ministry of Economics) that are evaluated and the evaluation is presented in the summary of suggestions and comments.

Amendments in the calculation method of natural gas storage tariffs become effective on the day following the publication in the magazine “Latvijas Vēstnesis”.