Regulation Regarding the Electricity Transmission System Development Plan

Issued pursuant to
Section 8, Paragraph six
and Section 15.¹, Paragraph two
of the Electricity Market Law

I. General Provision

1. This Regulation prescribes:

1.1. the information to be included in the Ten-Year Transmission System Development Plan (hereinafter - Plan);

1.2. the procedure by which the transmission system operator shall submit the Plan to the Public Utilities Commission (hereinafter - Regulator); and

1.3. the procedure by which the transmission system operator shall submit information to the Regulator regarding the performance of the duties specified in the Electricity Market Law.

II. Information to be Included in the Plan

2. The Plan is the planning document formulated by the transmission system operator in which the development of the transmission system and the financial investments required for the installations of the transmission system operator (hereinafter - transmission infrastructure) for the subsequent 10 years shall be determined.

3. When formulating the Plan, the transmission system operator shall rely on the conclusions and information contained in the assessment report which the transmission system operator shall prepare in compliance with Section 15, Paragraph one of the Electricity Market Law.

4. The transmission system operator shall prepare the plan taking into account the security requirements of electricity systems specified in the Network Code and information provided by electricity system participants and transmission system operators in countries with which the transmission system has cross-border interconnections.

5. The Plan shall have the following sections:

5.1. a descriptive section, in which the transmission system operator shall:

5.1.1. indicate, with justification, which transmission infrastructure is to be created anew or reconstructed in the subsequent 10 years, which is necessary to increase the transmission capacity of the cross-border interconnections or the security of the transmission system; and

5.1.2. justify the necessary financial investments into the transmission infrastructure, indicating which financial investments are to be performed in the next three years and regarding which financial investments the transmission system operator has already decided, indicating the source of financial investments; and

5.2. an informative section, in which the transmission system operator shall include:

5.2.1. information which the transmission system operator provides to the association "European network of transmission system operators for electricity" (ENTSO-E) and which is included in the Regional and Community-wide Ten-Year Network Development Plan referred to in Article 8(3)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 714/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 on conditions for Access to the network for cross-border exchanges in electricity and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1228/2003 (hereinafter - Community-wide Plan). The transmission system operator shall submit this information in compliance with Annex 1, indicating the total financial investment into the transmission infrastructure development or reconstruction project (hereinafter - project) and the allocation of the financial investments into LVL millions for each of the subsequent 10 years;

5.2.2. information regarding the remaining financial investments into the 330 kW and 110 kW transmission system in total in compliance with Annex 2, indicating the allocation of the financial investments into LVL millions for each of the subsequent 10 years; and

5.2.3. information regarding each of the projects in compliance with Annex 3.

6. Together with the Plan the transmission system operator shall submit to the Regulator the following necessary information for the evaluation of the Plan:

6.1. the procedure and criteria by which the transmission system operator shall evaluate the new projects contained in the Plan and the evaluation of each specific project in compliance with the criteria in question;

6.2. the calculation of the transmission system operator regarding the impact which the financial investment into the transmission infrastructure will have on the transmission system service tariffs in the subsequent three years and the subsequent ten years; and

6.3. information regarding acceptance of the plan in the management institutions of the transmission system operator and the co-ordination with the owner of the electricity system (hereinafter - system owner).

III. Procedure by Which a Plan Shall be Submitted and Approved

7. The transmission system operator shall submit the Plan to the Regulator in written form, as well as in electronic form, sending it to the e-mail address of the Regulator sprk@sprk.gov.lv and the information specified in Paragraph 6 of this Regulation by 30 June each year.

8. Within three working days following receipt of the Plan the Regulator shall publish on its Internet home page the Plan and the notice regarding receipt of the Plan, the place where the Plan may become acquainted with and the place and time of the hearing.

9. The Regulator shall organise a hearing no earlier than the seventh day following the announcement regarding the publication of the hearing on the Internet home page of the Regulator. Existing and potential transmission system users, the system operator and system owner may participate at the hearing, by notifying the contact person of the Regulator of their participation at the hearing at least one working day in advance. Until the hearing existing and potential transmission system users may submit recommendations in writing to the Plan to the Regulator.

10. The Regulator may request additional information from the transmission system operator, which is required in order to evaluate the Plan in its entirety.

11. When examining the Plan the Regulator shall evaluate:

11.1. its compliance with the Community-wide Plan;

11.2. its compliance with the performance of the obligations of the transmission system operator specified in the Electricity Market Law, including ensuring the security of the electricity system in accordance with the requirements specified in the Network Code;

11.3. the need to prevent an congestion of the cross-border interconnections, taking into account the volumes of the electricity market transactions in the region, the activity of the electricity exchange and the need to ensure appropriate transmission capacity;

11.4. the recommendations of existing and potential transmission system users; and

11.5. its compliance with the information specified in Paragraph 6.

12. The Regulator shall evaluate and approve the Plan or take a decision on rejection thereof in accordance with the time period and procedure specified by the Administrative Procedure Law.

13. The Regulator shall specify a deadline for rectifying the shortcomings in the decision on rejection of the Plan and for the submission of a new Plan.

IV. Information Necessary for Supervision of the Financial Investments to the Transmission Infrastructure in the Previous Calendar Year

14. Each year by 1 April the transmission system operator shall submit in written form, as well as in electronic form, the information required by the Regulator for supervision of the financial investments into the transmission infrastructure in the previous calendar year (hereinafter - report), by sending it to the e-mail address of the Regulator sprk@sprk.gov.lv.

15. The amount of financial investments in the previous calendar year shall be included in the report in compliance with Annex 4.

16. Concurrently with the report, the transmission system operator shall submit an explanation to the Regulator regarding the reasons why the actual financial investments differ from the planned financial investments, if the difference exceeds LVL 0.2 million.

V. Closing Provisions

17. The transmission system operator shall submit the first plan to the Regulator together with an application for the certification of the transmission system operator.

18. The transmission system operator shall submit the first report regarding 2012 until 1 April 2013.

19. This Regulation shall come into force on the day following the publication thereof in the newspaper Latvijas Vēstnesis [the Official Gazette of the Government of Latvia].

Informative Reference to the European Union Directive

This Regulation contains legal norms arising from Directive 2009/72/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity and repealing Directive 2003/54/EC.

Member of the Board of the Public Utilities Commission
on behalf of the Chair of the Board G.Zeltins

Annex 1
to Decision No. 1/28 of 23 November 2011 of the
Public Utilities Commission

Part of the Plan of the Transmission System Operator to be included in the Community-wide Plan, for the years 20__ until 20__ (excluding VAT)

* title of the project, according to the installation of the project and the record of the other measures, the title of the 2^nd project shall be written, numbering shall be sequential

** record of the installations to be included in the project, numbered in succession (sub-stations, electricity transmission lines and other installations)

Date

Place for a seal

Telephone ___________

Member of the Board of the Public Utilities Commission
on behalf of the Chair of the Board G.Zeltins

Annex 2
to Decision No. 1/28 of 23 November 2011 of the
Public Utilities Commission

Part of the Plan of the Transmission System Operator not to be included in the Community-wide Plan, for the years 20__ until 20__ (excluding VAT)

Date

Place for a seal

Telephone____________

Member of the Board of the Public Utilities Commission
on behalf of the Chair of the Board G.Zeltins

Annex 3
to Decision No. 1/28 of 23 November 2011 of the
Public Utilities Commission

Financial Investments into the Transmission Infrastructure for years 20____ until 20________ (excluding VAT)

* title of the project, according to the installation of the project and the record of the other measures, the title of the 2^nd project shall be written, numbering shall be sequential

** record of the installations to be included in the project, numbered in succession (sub-stations, electricity transmission lines and other installations)

*** in case of reconstruction the elements being reconstructed shall be indicated, continuing sequential numbering with sub-paragraphs

**** each measure of the project requiring financial investments shall be recorded separately

Date

Place for a seal

Telephone____________

Member of the Board of the Public Utilities Commission
on behalf of the Chair of the Board G.Zeltins

Annex 4
to Decision No. 1/28 of 23 November 2011 of the
Public Utilities Commission

Report Regarding Financial Investments to the Transmission Infrastructure in _____(year) (excluding VAT)

* title of the project which, according to numbering and to the title shall comply with the information provided in Annex 3 for the respective year

** record of the installations to be included in the project, with sequential numbering (sub-stations, electricity transmission lines and other installations), which shall comply with the title of the installation of the relevant project recorded in Annex 3

*** in case of reconstruction elements being reconstructed shall be indicated, continuing sequential numbering with sub-paragraphs beneath the relevant installation

**** each measure of the project requiring financial investments shall be recorded separately

***** the title of the project in which financial investment has been performed in the reporting year, but which has not been in compliance with the information provided in Annex 3 for the respective year

Date

Place for a seal

Telephone ______________

Member of the Board of the Public Utilities Commission
on behalf of the Chair of the Board G.Zeltins

Translation © 2012 Valsts valodas centrs (State Language Centre)