German gas market area managers see merger on track

German market area managers NCG and Gaspool expect the merger of the two market areas into the Trading Hub Europe to be completed as scheduled by the start of October 2021, with no delays expected as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The virus outbreak has not affected the merger plans to an extent that would put the previous schedule into jeopardy, the market area managers said today.

German law specifies that the merger would have to be completed by the start of April 2022 at the latest, but the system operator and market area managers aim to complete the integration six month earlier so that it would coincide with the beginning of the 2021-22 gas year.

Transmission system operator Open Grid Europe also said today that it expects the merger to go ahead as scheduled, even if regulator Bnetza's tariff plans are overturned by a Dusseldorf regional court.

There have been appeals against the tariff plans, with the court to hear the case on 18 June.

Benetza introduced a postage-stamp methodology that results in each market area having a uniform entry and exit tariff at the start of this year. This regime is to be largely retained next year and apply in the new market area from October 2021 onwards.

But several German grid operators appealed against the plans. And operators said in May — when publishing their tariffs for January-September 2021 — that the fees were still subject to change if challenges to the tariff regime were successful.

System operators Gascade and GRT Gaz Deutschland said earlier that the new regulations may lead to an "unlawful cross-subsidisation of domestic gas distribution at the expense of cross-border transport".

And German energy trading association Efet Deutschland recently urged Bnetza to establish a clear separation of transmission systems from regional distribution networks when setting gas transport tariffs, to avoid cross-subsidisation that could lift capacity costs at Germany's borders.

By Julian Mayr