Auctions for cross-border power capacities at the border with Bulgaria will be held by Joint Allocation Office S.A. (JAO) from Luxembourg from next year, the Energy Agency of the Republic of Serbia (AERS) said in a press release.

So far, the long-term auctions have been conducted by Bulgarian transmission system operator (TSO) ESO, while daily auctions have been held by Serbian TSO Elektromreža Srbije (EMS).

The change is part of the agreements between EMS and TSOs of Macedonia (MEPSO), Bulgaria (ESO), Romania (Transelectrica), Hungary (MAVIR), Croatia (HOPS), and Bosnia and Herzegovina (NOSBIH) on the procedure and method of the allocation of rights to use cross-border transmission capacities and access to cross-border transmission capacities for 2019, to which the Council of AERS gave its consent.

The most significant change this year was made on the border with Bulgaria, where Joint Allocation Office SA (JAO) from Luxembourg will conduct annual, monthly, and daily auctions under the European harmonized allocation rules from 2019, which has from 2018 already been applied on the border with Croatia, AERS said.

According to AERS, joint auctions secure more efficient use of cross-border capacities in line with European regulations.

Joint auctions have been organized on these borders for several years now, starting from 2012 on the border with Hungary, and from 2017, when this form of allocation was established on the border with Macedonia.

The AERS Council also agreed to amend the rules for the allocation of cross-border transmission capacities at the borders with the TSOs of neighboring systems with which no joint auction agreements have been signed.

By changing these rules, the allocation on intraday auctions is in line with the rules applied to the borders where EMS implements joint auctions, AERS noted.

AERS admitted as observer to Council of European Energy Regulators

At its General Assembly meeting, the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) admitted the Energy Agency of the Republic of Serbia into its ranks as a new CEER observer.

“Welcoming Serbia into CEER is a further sign of the growing cooperation among regulators in Europe and the Western Balkans,” CEER President Garrett Blaney said.