Today the Utility Regulator publishes its decision to modify the gas conveyance licences held by Belfast Gas Transmission Ltd, GNI (UK) Ltd, Premier Transmission Ltd, and West Transmission Ltd and issues a notice under Article 14(8) of the Gas (Northern Ireland) Order 1996
The modifications will facilitate compliance with the requirements of EU Regulation 2017/460, the Network Code on Harmonised Transmission Tariff Structures for Gas (“TAR NC”) in two main ways:
• Modifications regarding the consultation and publication of the seasonal multiplier factors. Seasonal multipliers factors apply to non-annual entry capacity products, for example monthly or daily capacity bookings, by applying a multiplier which either increases or decreases the relevant proportion of the annual tariff. The modifications embed the publication requirements into the licences, to require that the factors are consulted on and published annually.
• Modifications to implement the UR decision on changing the capacity commodity split. This split determines how transmission revenue is allocated between charges for the use of the pipeline, known as capacity charges, and charges for the units of gas which pass through the pipeline, known as commodity charges. As the TAR NC requires that transmission revenue is collected mainly through capacity charges, the modifications will increase the capacity proportion to 95% by October 2021.
The consultation on these modifications closed on 21 March 2019. The modifications will implement the decision on the TAR NC.
We received two responses, neither of which raised objections so the final modifications are unchanged from the consultation: