CERA published today a very important decision, for which it had informed the Electricity Authority of Cyprus in recent days, through a subsidiary, in accordance with the procedures provided.
The Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority ruled that the Distribution System Operator, which is part of the EAC, is responsible for the serious delays in the timely preparation and delivery of metering data related to the operation of the competitive electricity market.
As a fine, CERA decided to impose the amount of €500,000 on the Distribution Operator and an additional 500 euros for each day that the violation of the delay in submitting meter data to the participants in the electricity market continues.
CERA justifies its decision with the following:
"The Distribution System Operator (DSO), by failing to comply with the prescribed deadlines for the submission of Metering Data, which is a continuous regulatory obligation, resulting in a delay in the execution of clearances and settlement settlements, violated the requirements of the Electricity Market Rules
According to the Regulatory Authority, "the imposition of an administrative fine of five hundred thousand euros (€500,000) is considered appropriate, necessary and proportionate to the gravity of the violation found and serves both the specific purpose of compliance of the DSO, and the general deterrent purpose of administrative law, ensuring the effective implementation of the Electricity Market Rules and the protection of the proper functioning of the market".
In addition, CERA "taking into account the nature of the violation, its duration, the continued obligation to comply, as well as the need to prevent further delays that may affect the operation of the electricity market, CERA considers that the imposition of an administrative fine of five hundred euros (€500) for each day on which the violation continues to exist after the service of this Decision is reasonable, necessary and fully proportionate to the objective pursued of ensuring compliance'.
He admitted responsibility
It is worth noting that in the context of the correspondence that preceded, the DSO (Distribution System Operator) itself explicitly acknowledged that the Metering Data files that it should have sent to the Market Operator for the purposes of monthly clearances and settlement settlements were not submitted within the time limits provided for in the Electricity Market Rules.
According to the text of CERA's decision, "the allegations raised by the DSO mainly concern technical malfunctions of the MDMS system and related information systems, the mass installation of smart meters (AMI Rollout), infrastructure and database problems, organizational difficulties, as well as staffing issues of the competent organizational unit of the DSO.
CERA acknowledges that the above difficulties may have affected the operational operation of the DSO. However, these difficulties are issues of internal organisation, operation and management of its information infrastructure, the responsibility of which lies solely with the DSO itself'.
