Consultations/Rules amendments

Gestore dei mercati energetici S.p.A. (GME) informs Market Participants that urgent amendments have been made to the MGAS Rules with a view to safeguarding the proper operation of the market. In particular, GME has eliminated bids/offers without a price limit, providing at the same time that such bids/offers may be submitted only when this option is specifically referred to in the related Technical Rules.

The updated version of the MGAS Rules, amended as indicated above, shall enter into force as of 30^th January, 2024, with its publication on GME website, pursuant to article 3, para. 3.6 of the same Rules.

The updated version of the MGAS Rules shall fully replace the previous version published on GME website.

With DCO no. 1/2023 GME intends to collect observations from the stakeholders and market participants about the proposal to provide further tools, among others, which natural gas market participants already dispose of, to manage the error when entering bids on the continuous trading market. GME developed this idea in light of the significant increase in traded volumes observed on the market, as well as the increase in volatility, also intra-session, reported, after the current geo-political crisis.

***

All interested parties are invited to submit their observations in writing to GME - Governance no later than 5 May 2023, the closing date for this consultation, according to the following method:

• e-mail: info@mercatoelettrico.org

Parties who intend to safeguard the confidentiality or secrecy of the documentation sent, in whole or in part, are required to state which parts of their documentation must be considered as confidential.

DCO n. 1/2023

Participants are hereby informed that, with Ministerial Decree 387 of 20-11-2023, the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, having heard the favourable opinion of the ARERA (Energy, Network and Environment Regulatory Authority) (Opinion 407/2023/I/gas) has approved the ordinary amendments to the Natural Gas Market Regulation (MGAS Regulation), made pursuant to Article 3, paragraph 3.5, of the Regulation, in order to introduce the Trade Cancellation procedure.

Therefore, starting from 28 November 2023 the participants will be able to request the activation of the Trade Cancellation procedure. At the same time, on 28 November 2023, the Technical Implementing Provision n. 21 MGAS will enter into force, with the implementation and procedural rules of the Trade Cancellation procedure, as well as the updated versions of Technical Rules n. 13 MGAS and Technical Rules n. 16 MGAS, adjusted following the changes introduced within the MGAS, here made available in advance, for information purposes only.

It must be noted also that with the same Ministerial Decree 387 of 20-11-2023, the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, having heard the favourable opinion of the Energy, Network and Environment Regulatory Authority (Opinion 19 July 2022 341/2022/I/com), approved the urgent amendments to the MGAS Regulation and to the Integrated Text of the Electricity Market Rules (ME Regulations), entered into force on 21 March 2022, made in order to introduce transitional methods on the subject of payment regulation.

Following the previous press release of 28/02/2022 - concerning the Transitional provisions on settlement of payments for ME, MGAS and PCE’s Market Participants. Next start - we inform the Market operators that, today, with the related publication on the GME Web site, the urgent changes to the Integrated text of the electricity market rules, the Natural gas market Rules and the PCE Rules come into force.

At the same time, today, also the new versions of ME, MGAS and PCE Technical Rules become effective with the related publication on the GME Website, consistent with the purposes of the effectiveness aforementioned provisions on ME, MGAS and PCE Rules.

ELECTRICITY MARKET

• Integrated text of the electricity market rules
• DTF 7
• DTF 8
• Communication of ME bank details

GAS MARKET

• Gas market rules
• DTF 15
• DTF 16
• Communication of MGAS bank details

PCE PLATFORM

• PCE Rules
• DTF 4
• DTF 6
• Communication of PCE bank details

Furthermore, the updated version of the Settlement calendar, is made available. It can be used to settle payments on the ME, MGAS and PCE, according to the new applicable provisions.

For further information, Market Participants are required to check the documentation and the specific sections of GME's Web site.

For further information, you can contact the following e-mail addresses:

mesettlement@mercatoelettrico.org

contab@mercatoelettrico.org

Participants are hereby informed that, with Ministerial Decree 387 of 20-11-2023, the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, having heard the favourable opinion of the ARERA (Energy, Network and Environment Regulatory Authority) (Opinion 407/2023/I/gas) has approved the ordinary amendments to the Natural Gas Market Regulation (MGAS Regulation), made pursuant to Article 3, paragraph 3.5, of the Regulation, in order to introduce the Trade Cancellation procedure.

Therefore, starting from 28 November 2023 the participants will be able to request the activation of the Trade Cancellation procedure. At the same time, on 28 November 2023, the Technical Implementing Provision n. 21 MGAS will enter into force, with the implementation and procedural rules of the Trade Cancellation procedure, as well as the updated versions of Technical Rules n. 13 MGAS and Technical Rules n. 16 MGAS, adjusted following the changes introduced within the MGAS, here made available in advance, for information purposes only.

It must be noted also that with the same Ministerial Decree 387 of 20-11-2023, the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, having heard the favourable opinion of the Energy, Network and Environment Regulatory Authority (Opinion 19 July 2022 341/2022/I/com), approved the urgent amendments to the MGAS Regulation and to the Integrated Text of the Electricity Market Rules (ME Regulations), entered into force on 21 March 2022, made in order to introduce transitional methods on the subject of payment regulation.

With the Consultation Document no. 02/2019 GME intends to gather observations and comments in relation to the proposal to introduce the weekend product in the MGAS, as well as to allow the trading of this new product also in the market making activity.
This proposal is aimed at enriching the offer of the products available for trading in the spot gas markets, in order to provide participants with a flexible operational tool that allows them to anticipate, in the previous working days, the trading referred to gas days falling during the weekend (i.e. Saturday and Sunday).

Interested parties must send their comments in writing to GME - Governance, by and no later than 19 September  2019, the closing date of this consultation in one of the following modalities:

• e-mail: info@mercatoelettrico.org

• fax: 06.8012-4524
• post: Gestore dei Mercati Energetici S.p.A.

Participants are hereby informed that the following amendments have been approved by Decree of the Ministry of Economic Development (MiSE) dated 12 December 2019 and published on the MiSE website:

• to the Electricity Market Rules (hereinafter: ME Rules) regarding the repeal of the provisions concerning the platform for the physical delivery of financial contracts concluded on IDEX (CDE). This amendment was made as a result of the elimination by Borsa Italiana S.p.A. of the option for physical delivery of electricity on the ME underlying the derivative financial contracts on electricity concluded by participants on the IDEX.


• to the Natural Gas Market Rules (hereinafter: MGAS Rules) concerning:

• the introduction of the "weekend product" on the MGP-GAS;
• the organisation and management, within the MP-GAS, of the new segment for the supply of system gas (AGS) to allow Snam Rete Gas S.p.A. the supply of the resources necessary for the functioning of the gas system according to the criteria and procedures established by ARERA with resolution 451/2019/R/GAS;
• the repeal of any reference to the CDE platform, following the repeal of the provisions regulating the functioning of this platform from the ME Rules;
• formal adjustments aimed at making the provisions of the MGAS Rules in line with the adoption, by Snam Rete Gas S.p.A., of the EIC code (Energy Identification Code) as the code for the identification of participants at the PSV.



• to the Natural Gas Trading Platform Rules (hereinafter: P-GAS Rules) aimed at making the provisions contained therein in line with the adoption, by Snam Rete Gas S.p.A., of the EIC code (Energy Identification Code).

The new versions of the ME Rules, the MGAS Rules and the P-GAS Rules - as well as the related Technical Rules (DTF) and the additional amended documentation - are below provided for information purposes only.

In particular, the ME Rules and the P-GAS Rules will become effective starting from 1 January 2020, while the MGAS Rules will become effective and will be applied for operations referred to the gas-day 1 January 2020.

• on 31 December 2019 the AGS auction will be held exclusively for MGP-GAS and valid for the gas-day 1 January;

• starting from 1 January 2020, the AGS auctions will be held for both MGP-GAS and MI-GAS.

ELECTRICITY MARKETS

-  Electricity Market Rules - (encl. Annex 3 – Integrated bank guarantee without expiration form)

-  Letter amending the non-interest-bearing cash deposit

-  Guarantees allocation form (before netting)

-  Guarantee allocation form netting

-  ME Technical Rules:

o  TECHNICAL RULE no. 03 rev. 07 ME

o  TECHNICAL RULE no. 04 rev. 08 ME

o  TECHNICAL RULE no. 05 rev. 07 ME

o  TECHNICAL RULE no. 07 rev. 09 ME

o  TECHNICAL RULE no. 08 rev. 14 ME

o  TECHNICAL RULE no. 01 Rev. 02 CDE (repealed)

NATURAL GAS MARKET

-  Natural Gas Market Rules - (encl. Annex A – Market Participation Application from; Annex C – Integrated bank guarantee without expiration form)

-  Letter amending the non-interest-bearing cash deposit

-  MGAS Guarantee allocation form

-  MGAS Technical Rules:

o  TECHNICAL RULE no. 04 rev. 05 MGAS

o  TECHNICAL RULE no. 06 rev. 04 MGAS

o  TECHNICAL RULE no. 07 rev. 03 MGAS

o  TECHNICAL RULE no. 10 rev. 01 MGAS

o  TECHNICAL RULE no. 15 rev. 02 MGAS

o  TECHNICAL RULE no. 19 rev. 01 MGAS

o  TECHNICAL RULE no. 20 MGAS

P-GAS PLATFORM

-  P-GAS Rules (encl. Annex 1 – P-GAS Participation Application; Annex 2 – P-GAS Participation Agreement)

Participants are hereby informed that, following the provisions of Resolution no. 612/2018/R/GAS - on the participation of Stogit S.p.A. in the MGAS for purposes related to the "Emergency Plan" referred to in Legislative Decree no. 93/2011 - GME amended the MGAS Rules, pursuant to Article 3, paragraph 3.6, of the same Rules.

The updated version of the Rules, resulting from the aforementioned urgent amendment, shall enter into force today with the related publication on GME's website.

By decree of 13 March 2017, the Minister of Economic Development approved amendments to the "Natural-Gas Market Rules", which included, inter alia, regulatory provisions for the implementation of measures aimed at improving the liquidity of natural-gas markets, as previously described by GME in the Consultation Paper n. 06/2016.

In implementing these regulatory measures, GME has published a subsequent Consultation Paper n. 01/2017 detailing the terms and conditions for carrying out the market making activity.

In order to make market-making activity effective in promoting market liquidity, with the activation of the market making service, and also to facilitate the comparability of the prices by market participants, it is necessary to standardize the contract size of the market products currently traded on MGAS with the one  adopted in the major European markets. This alignment plays a crucial role in the bidding strategies of market participants, and in particular, of those who will be available to carry out the market making activity, with the possibility of a faster and easier comparison of bids/offers for the products traded on different markets.

In order to illustrate the implications connected to the proposal for amendments to the contract size, GME defines in this Consultation Paper the details of the amendment itself, with a prompt indication of the products traded on the MGAS that would be involved in the said amendment.

All interested parties may provide their comments about the content of this document.
Such comments shall be provided, in writing, to GME - Governance, by and no later than 21^st November 2017, time limit of this consultation, by one of the following methods:

• e-mail: info@mercatoelettrico.org
  
• fax: 06.8012-4524
  
• mail: Gestore dei mercati energetici S.p.A.
  Viale Maresciallo Pilsudski, 122 - 124
  

GME informs that, by Ministerial Decree 18-12-2017, the Minister for Economic Development, having heard the favorable opinion of the Italian Regulatory Authority of Electricity, Gas and Water (Opinion 30 November 2017 no 804/2017/I/GAS), approved:

·  the urgent amendments to the MGAS Rules made pursuant to Article 3, paragraph 3.6 of the same Rules and effective from 1 October, in order to overcome the transitional management procedures of the MGS referred to in point 6 of AEEGSI Resolution no. 66/2017/R/GAS, as well as to adapt the same Rules as required by subsequent AEEGSI Resolution no. 349/2017/R/GAS on the "neutrality" of the Balancing Operator;

·  the ordinary amendments to the MGAS Rules made pursuant to Article 3, paragraph 3.5, of the same Rules – previously described by GME in the Consultation Paper n. 02/2017 - in order to standardize the "contract size" of the products currently traded on MGP-GAS, MI-GAS, MPL and MT-GAS with the one adopted on the main European gas markets.

Following the communication dated 14 September 2017, we would like to inform that as of today, the new Natural Gas Market Rules (MGAS Rules) will becomes effective and the new versions of the MGAS Technical Rules (DTF), published on the GME site, will enter into force.

Starting from 11am today, interested participants may submit bids/offers also for the storage company Edison Stoccaggio S.p.A.

GME informs that, by Ministerial Decree 18-12-2017, the Minister for Economic Development, having heard the favorable opinion of the Italian Regulatory Authority of Electricity, Gas and Water (Opinion 30 November 2017 no 804/2017/I/GAS), approved:

·  the urgent amendments to the MGAS Rules made pursuant to Article 3, paragraph 3.6 of the same Rules and effective from 1 October, in order to overcome the transitional management procedures of the MGS referred to in point 6 of AEEGSI Resolution no. 66/2017/R/GAS, as well as to adapt the same Rules as required by subsequent AEEGSI Resolution no. 349/2017/R/GAS on the "neutrality" of the Balancing Operator;

·  the ordinary amendments to the MGAS Rules made pursuant to Article 3, paragraph 3.5, of the same Rules – previously described by GME in the Consultation Paper n. 02/2017 - in order to standardize the "contract size" of the products currently traded on MGP-GAS, MI-GAS, MPL and MT-GAS with the one adopted on the main European gas markets.

By decree of March 13, 2017 of the Minister for Economic Development, the amendments to the "Natural Gas Market Discipline" were approved, aiming at the transition to a new balancing regime and, inter alia, the introduction of the market making activity, aimed at improving the liquidity of natural gas markets.

IIn particular, Article 27 of the MGAS Rules provides that, in order to improve the liquidity of products traded on the market, GME may provide for Market Making activity in the MGAS, in accordance with the terms and conditions defined in the Technical Rules. (...) participants interested in carrying out the Market Making shall submit GME a request, in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth in the Technical Rules.

In order to fully implement this provision, GME wishes, with this consultation, to provide operators with a description of the regulatory and operational framework to define the arrangements for carrying out the market making activity in the gas market.

Any interested person/entity must submit, in writing, its comments to GME - Institutional Relations and Communication, no later than 20 June 2017, end date of this consultation by one of the following means:

• e-mail: info@mercatoelettrico.org
• fax: 06.8012-4524
• mail: Gestore dei mercati energetici S.p.A. Viale Maresciallo Pilsudski, 122 - 124 00197 – Roma

Participants are requested to submit their comments to GME also indicating whether they are interested in carrying out market-making activities or if they are just interested in the use of such an activity. In the document, GME has also included consultation suggestions, where it considers it useful to receive considerations specific to the proposal for market making activity from participants.

Those wishing to safeguard the confidentiality or secrecy, in whole or in part, of the documentation submitted are required to indicate which parts of their documents shall be treated as confidential.

DCO 01/2017

GME informs that, by Ministerial Decree 18-12-2017, the Minister for Economic Development, having heard the favorable opinion of the Italian Regulatory Authority of Electricity, Gas and Water (Opinion 30 November 2017 no 804/2017/I/GAS), approved:

·  the urgent amendments to the MGAS Rules made pursuant to Article 3, paragraph 3.6 of the same Rules and effective from 1 October, in order to overcome the transitional management procedures of the MGS referred to in point 6 of AEEGSI Resolution no. 66/2017/R/GAS, as well as to adapt the same Rules as required by subsequent AEEGSI Resolution no. 349/2017/R/GAS on the "neutrality" of the Balancing Operator;

·  the ordinary amendments to the MGAS Rules made pursuant to Article 3, paragraph 3.5, of the same Rules – previously described by GME in the Consultation Paper n. 02/2017 - in order to standardize the "contract size" of the products currently traded on MGP-GAS, MI-GAS, MPL and MT-GAS with the one adopted on the main European gas markets.

Following the press release of September 19th, 2016, we inform you that the new Rules of the Gas Balancing Platform (PB-Gas Rules), as amended, pursuant to Article 3.7 of the aforementioned Rules, will enter into force from the day gas October 1st, 2016 in order to launch the gas balancing system according to the transitional arrangement referred to in Article 2, paragraph 2.1 of Decision 312/2016/R/GAS.
Simultaneously, from the gas day 1st October 2016, the following Technical Rules will enter into force.

• Technical Rule no. 11 rev2 PB-GAS Units of measurement
• Technical Rule no. 09 rev2 PB-GAS Management of emergency conditions
• Technical Rule no. 08 rev4 PB-GAS Validation and Technical Adequacy Verification of Bids/Offers
• Technical Rule no. 07 rev6 PB-GAS Submission of Bids/Offers
• Technical Rule no. 06 rev2 PB-GAS Time Periods of Activities for the Sessions of the PB-GAS
• Technical Rule no. 05 rev4 PB-GAS VAT Taxation on the PB-GAS
• Technical Rule no. 04 rev2 PB-GAS Notifications about the procedure of admission to/exclusion from the PB-GAS
• Technical Rule no. 03 rev4 PB-GAS Invoicing of Fees and Settlement of Payments

Therefore, the previously version of the PB-GAS Rules and the related Technical Rules will be applied for the operation of the PB-GAS Gas referred to the gas day September 30th, 2016.

Notice is hereby given that with Ministerial Decree 16-11-2016, published on the Official Journal General Series no. 282 of 02/12/2016, the Minister of Economic Development, having heard the favorable opinion of Authority for Electricity, Gas and Water System (Opinion 20 October 2016 - 586/2016/I/gas), approved the urgent changes to the Rules of the natural gas market, prepared by Gestore dei Mercati energetici S.p.A. under Article 3.6 of the said Rules, in order to launch the balancing system according to the transitional arrangement referred to in Article 2, paragraph 2.1 of Resolution 312/2016/R/GAS.

Please note that the Rules of the natural gas market entered into force on 30 September 2016 and are available at the following link.

Following the statement by SRG regarding the change of the measurement unit from GJ to MWh, in accordance with Article 13 of (EU) Regulation 2015/703, GME will carry out the necessary changes on the markets and on the platforms of the gas, managed by it, requiring the delivery to the PSV.
In particular, the changes will affect the natural gas market – the MGAS (number of decimal places of the measurement unit MWh) and the platform for the balance of natural gas – the PB-GAS (change of the measurement unit from GJ to MWh).
The new measurement unit of the quantities and unit prices of gas will be applied to contracts with delivery starting from the gas day October 1.
Given the different time limits of the contracts trading with respect to the day of delivery of natural gas, the upgrade process involves the introduction of the new measurement units with time limits other than the various markets and gas platforms.

The transition to the new measurement unit will involve:

• changes of the IT platforms;
• changes of the corporate website of GME;
• necessary regulatory adjustments.

With regard to the platforms, the measures needed to adjust the measurement unit from GJ to MWh will affect the upgrade of the labels of the fields dedicated to the units of measurement in the webform, for the submission of tenders, and in reports.

The update of the measurement unit will be performed:

• during the night of 29/09 and 30/09 for the MGAS;
• during the night of 29/09 and 30/09 for the sector G-1 of the PBGAS;
• on 01/10 after 11 am for the sector G+1 of the PBGAS.

It should be noted that the offers in the sector D + 1 of the PB-GAS referred to the gas day October 1 will be submitted after 11 am on 01/10.

With reference to the PB-GAS, GME will convert the set offers submitted by the market participants, transforming them from GJ to MWh and from €/GJ to €/MWh, applying the relevant conversion factor. The market participants have, however, the possibility of change them through the platform of the PB-GAS.

In order to implement the above provisions, GME amended the Rules of the natural gas market, in accordance with Article 3.6 of the said Rules, as well as prepared the new DTF 15 – Measurement unit for the MGAS and amended the DTF 11 - Measurement unit for the Platform of gas balancing.
The new version of the aforementioned Rules and the new DTFs will take effect from the date of publication or by 30 September 2015.

In order to develop the MGAS, it should be noted also that, with regard to the offers submitted in connection with the session of the Intraday MI-GAS Market for the gas day September 30, 2015 the amount offered in MWh/day should not contain the indication of the decimal places.

In relation to the corporate website, please note that GME will make the necessary changes to the format of the XML file that contains the results of the gas markets managed by GME and affected by the change of the unit of measurement.

It’s notified that, by Ministerial Decree of 25 February 2016, published on the Official Gazette, General Series no. 69 of 23-3-2016, the Minister of Economic Development, with the favorable opinion 11/2016/I/gas of the Authority for electricity, gas and water system (AEEGSI), approved the urgent amendments to the Natural Gas Market Rules, ordered by Gestore dei mercati energetici S.p.A, pursuant to Article 3, paragraph 3.6, of the same Rules, already in force since the publication date of 30 September 2015.

The text of the Natural Gas Market Rules is available at this link

Due to the transition to the “regime phase” of the new structure of the balancing of the natural gas system provided for in the AEEGSI’s Decision n. 312/2016/R/teca/Documenti/20161201_DC GAS of 16 June 2016, aiming to achieve "Bilanciamento gas, in attuazione del Regolamento (UE) 312/2014”, Gestore dei mercati energetici (hereinafter: GME) publishes this consultation document, under Article 3, paragraph 3.5, of the MGAS Rules, which describes to the Market Participants the new gas market (MGAS) structure that will result from this transition, in order to collect comments from any stakeholders. In particular, the transition to the “regime phase” will imply the transition both of the trading of locational products (MPL) and of the trading relating to the adjustment of the volumes handled from the storage (MGS) to the MGAS and the consequent operational closure of the PB-GAS.

Without prejudice to the main objective of this consultation document, this opportunity allows GME submitting to the assessment of the stakeholders also proposals to amend other aspects concerning the operation of the MGAS, which are not strictly related to the “regime phase” of the balancing and which may consequently be introduced even after the launch of such a regime phase. Those proposals may be subject to revision in the light of what has been observed on the market, as well as the changing environment arisen following the start of the new balancing regime.

***

The parties must submit, in writing, their comments to GME - Institutional Relations and Communication, no later than December 22, 2016, end date of this consultation by one of the following ways:

• e-mail: info@mercatoelettrico.org
• fax: +39 06.8012-4524
• mail: Gestore dei mercati energetici S.p.A.
  Viale Maresciallo Pilsudski, 122 - 124
  00197 – Rome - Italy

Those wishing to safeguard the confidentiality or secrecy, in whole or in part, of the documentation submitted are required to indicate which parts of their documents shall be treated as confidential.

Download DCO 6/2016

The Ministry of Economic Development, with Ministerial decree 13-03-2017 and after hearing the favourable opinion of the Italian Regulatory Authority for Electricity, Gas and Water (Opinion 98/2017/I/GAS of March 3, 2017), approved the amendments to the Natural-Gas Market Rules (MGAS Rules) elaborated by Gestore dei mercati energetici S.p.A. (GME) in compliance with Article 3, paragraph 3.5 of the abovementioned Rules, with the purpose of implementing the “regime” phase of the new gas balancing system under Resolution No. 312/2016/R/GAS.

The aforesaid amendments shall enter into force on April 1, 2017¹, as pursuant to the mentioned Decree.

With the present notice, GME communicates that the new version of the MGAS Rules is available, together with the related updated Technical Rules (DTF MGAS), for information purposes only. With regard to this, please note that, given the amendments applied to the MGAS Rules for the implementation of the abovesaid “regime phase” – which, as is well known, led to a different Gas Market setting – and following the update of the Technical Rules, a new Rule numbering has been applied.

Please use the link below to find out the new MGAS Rules together with the updated and renumbered Technical Rules – DTF MGAS:

MGAS Rules

Technical rule no 1: "Notifications about the procedure of admission to/exclusion from themarket"
Technical rule no 2: "Holidays"
Technical rule no 3: "Unit of measurement"
Technical rule no 4: "Access to the Information System"
Technical rule no 5: "Timing of the activities of the MPL and MGS sessions"
Technical rule no 6: "Submission of Offers/Bids"
Technical rule no 7: "Types of contracts, Duration of the Trading Period and Cascading Mechanism"
Technical rule no 8: "Data and Information concerning the Participation in the MGAS, validation of offers and maximum exposure to Snam Rete Gas"
Technical rule no 9: "Gas Storage Providers on the MGS"
Technical rule no 10: "Registration of the MGAS net position and MPL position to the PSV"
Technical rule no 11: "Reference price and closing price"
Technical rule no 12: "Closing of open positions"
Technical rule no 13: "Emergency Communications between GME and Market Participants"
Technical rule no 14: "Loss of Qualifications or Default by the Bank Issuing the Bank Guarantee"
Technical rule no 15: "Bids/Asks Adequacy Verification of Guarantee Coverage"
Technical rule no 16: "Invoicing of payables/receivables and settlement of payments"
Technical rule no 17: "VAT Taxation in the Gas Market"

¹For further details on the implementation of the “regime” phase of the new gas balancing system as well as on the conditions for the participation in the new MGAS, please refer to the press release of March 7, 2017

Following the previous DCO no. 01/2015, showing a first proposal to amend the rules of settlement on the gas market (MGAS), by this consultation, GME intends to submit to the Market Participants an updated version of the above proposal drawn up in order to harmonize the billing and payment cycle of the MGAS with the timing and the manner prescribed for the Electricity Market (ME) and the PCE - shown within the DCO no. 07/2014 - while also taking into account the comments made by the Market Participants in response to that consulting procedure on the matter. 
In addition, it should be noted that the implementation of the proposal, which includes a series of settlements on a weekly basis as part of the MGAS, would result in a significant benefit to Market Participants in terms of lower total charges related to participation in the market, reducing exposure each of them to GME in terms of guarantees, also in light of the startup of the new balancing mechanism under European Rules 312/2014. 
For completeness, it should be noted that the comments contained in this document refer to the guarantee scheme currently in force, but remain valid, mutatis mutandis, even in the presence of the future integrated system of guarantees referred to in DCO 05/2014.
Stakeholders are invited to submit their remarks with reference to the operating methods described in the document.
Such comments must be received, in writing, bye GSE - Institutional Relations and Communication, no later than friday 11 December 2015, end date of this consultation, by one of the following ways:

e-mail: info@mercatoelettrico.org 
fax: +39 06.8012-4524 
mail: Gestore dei mercati energetici S.p.A.
Viale Maresciallo Pilsudski, 122-124 
00197 – Rome

Those wishing to safeguard the confidentiality or secrecy, in whole or in part, of documents sent are required to specify which parts of their documents shall be treated as confidential. 

Download DCO 04/2015

In the implementation of the provisions set out in article 30 of law 99/09 and article 32 of Leg. Decree 93/11, GME (Manager of Energy Markets) has been entrusted with the organisation and management of the wholesale market for natural gas (MGAS) whose current configuration includes the spot market for natural gas (MP-GAS) – which, in turn, is structured in day-ahead and intraday markets – and the futures market (MT-GAS) in which, from 2 September 2013, annual (calendar and thermal), half-yearly, quarterly, monthly and BoM (balance of month) products are negotiable by continuous trading.

Within the improvements aimed at making the market more efficient and economic as a whole, GME, in carrying out its role as market operator and continuing the solution envisaged for the electricity market with regard to DCO no. 07/2014, proposes a change in the current monthly settlement rules. In particular, the proposal set out below which, through the introduction of a weekly billing and payment timing for the natural gas market as well, would mean a step forward in the process of harmonizing legislation between different Regulations/Frameworks at least for those areas whose provisions can be applied more widely across the different markets of GME.

The implementation of a reduced settlement cycle with respect to current timings would also mean a significant benefit to the participants in terms of lower overall charges arising from participation in the market by reducing individual exposure towards GME in terms of guarantees.
For the sake of clarity, it should be pointed out that the points made in this document refer to the currently applicable guarantee system, but, with appropriate adjustments, they will still apply to a future integrated guarantee system referred to in DCO 05/2014 as well.

***

With this consultation document (Consultation Document 8/2014), GME intends to gather comments and suggestions from interested parties about some changes to the provisions of the Rules and Regulations governing its markets and platforms. The proposed changes are focused on: the disciplinary measures that GME adopts in case of breaches of the Rules and Regulations by participants; the requirements for participation in/suspension/exclusion from the market/s; and the provisions regarding the resolution of complaints about market operations.
Considering that the above provisions have a cross-cutting nature within the different markets/platforms that GME organises and manages, apart from obvious differences related to the specificity of each market, GME plans to globally revise the Rules/Regulations, with a view to achieving a structured and homogeneous regulatory setting to the benefit, among others, of participants active on the different markets/platforms.
Interested parties are invited to send their comments in writing to GME’s Institutional Relations & Communication - “Relazioni Istituzionali e Comunicazione”- by 11 December at the latest (end date of the consultation) in one of the following ways:

·  by e-mail to: info@mercatoelettrico.org
·  by fax to: +39-06-8012 4524
·  by mail to: Gestore dei mercati energetici S.p.A.
                     Largo Giuseppe Tartini, 3/4
                     00198 – Roma

If you want us to keep all or part of your comments confidential, please specify which parts of your document are to be kept confidential.

Download Consultation Document 8/2014

With its Decree of 6 Mar. 2013 (published in “Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana” no. 74 of  28 Mar. 2013, hereafter “Ministerial Decree of 6 Mar. 2013”), the Ministry of Economic Development approved the Natural-Gas Market Rules (hereafter: “New Rules”) in compliance with art. 30, para. 1 of Law 99/09. The New Rules represent a single body of legislation governing both the physical forward gas market (as per art. 32, para. 2 of Legislative Decree no. 93 of 1 Jun. 2011) and the spot gas market. The latter market, which took off on 10 Dec. 2010, is covered by the Gas Market Rules, approved by the Ministry of Economic Development on 26 Dec. 2010 and as subsequently amended and supplemented (hereafter “Previous Rules”). The aforesaid Ministerial Decree of 6 Mar. 2013 provided that the date of take-off of the Forward Gas Market would be set by a subsequent Decree to be issued by the Ministry of Economic Development at the proposal of GME, after an adequate experimental period.

Consequently, taking into account the synergies existing between the operation of the forward gas market and the one of the spot gas market, their proximity and their technical-operational coordination, also the date of effect of the provisions governing the spot market (contained in the New Rules) was deferred until the date of take-off of the forward gas market. In the meantime, the Previous Rules continued to apply.

With its Decree of 9 August 2013 (hereafter “Decree of 9 August 2013”), the Ministry of Economic Development has set the date of 2 September 2013 for the take-off of the forward gas market, pursuant to art. 1, para. 3 of the above-mentioned Ministerial Decree of 6 Mar. 2013. The Ministry of Economic Development has also established that: i. in order to promptly start transactions in the forward gas market according to the timescales indicated in the Decree of 9 August 2013, GME should - pursuant to art. 3, para. 3.6 of the New Rules - make any amendments and additions to the New Rules as might be necessary taking into account the results of the experimental period, and define implementing procedures for the regulatory provisions issued in preparation for the take-off of the new gas market configuration;  ii. as of 2 September 2013, the Previous Rules should be fully superseded by the New Rules; iii. in order to allow interested parties an adequate period of familiarisation with the New Rules, GME should - without prejudice to the enforcement of the New Rules on the date of take-off of the MT-GAS and with exception to the provisions of art. 3, para. 3.6 thereof - publish the New Rules on its website on the date of adoption of the Decree setting the date of take-off of the MT-GAS.
As a result of the introduction of the MT-GAS, the current spot gas market platform will cease to exist and be replaced by the new MGAS platform governed by the New Rules. Therefore, the market configuration is as follows:
-  Spot Gas Market (MP-GAS), consisting of the Day-Ahead Gas Market (MGP-GAS) and of the Intra-Day Gas Market (MI-GAS);
-  Forward Gas Market (MT-GAS).
Thus, as of 2 September 2013, in compliance with the Decree of 9 August 2013, the MGAS will be governed by the New Rules, as well as by the Technical Rules entered into force on 2 September 2013. As a result, the New Rules and the Technical Rules will apply to participation in both the MP-GAS and the MT-GAS. However, parties already admitted to the market may exercise their right of withdrawal within 15 days of the enforcement of the New Rules, pursuant to art. 2, para. 2 a) of the Market Participation Agreement, signed upon submission of the Market Participation Application.
All current gas market participants are automatically admitted to the MT-GAS without having to file an additional application and/or additional documents, except as provided below in connection with the guarantee system. Therefore, for the additional services provided by GME, the above-mentioned participants will be required to pay to GME only the fees for the MWh covered by the transactions concluded in the MT-GAS. As regards the users designated to access the MT-GAS information system on behalf of the above-mentioned participants, GME will automatically register those currently authorised to operate on the MP-GAS and specified in point 6) of the market participation application (and any changes or additions thereto).
Market participants wishing to differentiate or increase the number of users to be authorised for the MP-GAS and/or MT-GAS will have to file an appropriate “richiesta di gestione abilitazione utenti” (application for managing users’ authorisations) or “richiesta di integrazione abilitazioni utenti” (application for adding users’ authorisations).
Parties not yet admitted to the MGAS and wishing to participate therein must file an appropriate participation application. For details, refer to the New Rules.
All parties carrying out transactions in the MGAS are required to pay the contribution applied to the MWh traded as per art. 8 of the New Rules.
With regard to the guarantee system, if gas market participants have already submitted a bank guarantee to GME and if such guarantee is still valid, they will have to merely replace it, by using the new bank guarantee form (Annex C) referred to in art. 55, para. 55.1 of the New Rules. Indeed, first-demand bank guarantees issued under art. 45, para. 45.1 of the Previous Rules will cease to have effect on 2 September 2013. 

For requesting the return of the guarantees referred to in art. 45, para. 45.1 of the Previous Rules, market participants must send an e-mail message to contab@mercatoelettrico.org, specifying the data of the bank guarantee to be returned (issuing bank, reference number, amount and market participant in respect of which/whom it has been issued), as well as the address to which the original document is to be delivered. GME will carry out the necessary verifications and, if the guarantee is free of encumbrances, it will return the original document; if the guarantee is not free of encumbrances, GME will return it after the removal of such encumbrances.

The new bank guarantees pursuant to art. 55, para. 55.1 of the New Rules must be handed in or delivered (possibly by registered letter with return receipt or by courier) only to the  bank in charge of GME’s treasury services, whose address is
 
Banca Popolare di Sondrio
Società Cooperativa per Azioni
Viale Cesare Pavese, 336
00144 – Roma
Alla c.a.: Ufficio Crediti
 
Conversely, as regards financial guarantees in the form of cash deposits, no change is necessary. For details, refer to the New Rules.
 
Products and main features of the market
The MT-GAS is a continuous-trading physical forward market, where participants buy and sell contracts covering gas volumes that, at the end of the corresponding trading period, GME will register in the PSV system (as qualified operator therein) on behalf of the same participants, pursuant to AEEG’s Decision  525/2012/R/GAS.
In the MT-GAS, GME will organise a number of order books, one for each type of tradable product. In particular, the types of traded products are: yearly/thermal year, yearly/calendar year, half-yearly, quarterly, monthly and Balance-of-Month (BoM).


Natural-gas market rules
 
Technical rules MGAS

M-GAS USER GUIDE

Implementation guide

On 1 June 2011, Legislative Decree no. 93 was approved. The Decree (published in “Gazzetta Ufficiale” no. 148 of 28 June 2011 - “Supplemento Ordinario” - hereafter Legislative Decree 93/11) implemented Directives 2009/72/EC, 2009/73/EC and 2008/92/EC concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity, in natural gas and a Community procedure to improve the transparency of gas and electricity prices charged to industrial end users, repealing Directives  2003/54/EC and 2003/55/EC. In particular, with a view to favouring the liquidity of the gas market, article 32, para. 2 of the Decree establishes that: within six months of the date of enforcement of this Decree, “Gestore dei Mercati Energetici” (referred to in article 5 of Legislative Decree no. 79 of 16 March 1999 - GME) shall take over the management of physical forward markets of natural gas. To this end, “Autorità per l’Energia Elettrica e il Gas” (electricity & gas regulator – AEEG) shall lay down regulatory provisions enabling GME to carry out such activities and to act as a central counterparty to the trades in the above markets, as a user at the “Punto di Scambio Virtuale” (Virtual Trading Point – PSV) holding an account thereon and as a user of the natural-gas balancing market.
 
By agreement with the relevant institutions, GME has prepared this consultation document concerning a forward market design proposal, with a view to gathering comments and inputs on the related  organisational and operational procedures.
 
Interested parties should send in their comments in writing to the “Unità Legale e Regolazione” (Legal & Regulatory Office) of GME within 12 November 2012 at the latest (end date of the consultation)

• preferably, as an attached file to the following e-mail address info@mercatoelettrico.org,

• by fax to +39-06-8012-4524

or

• by mail to Gestore dei mercati energetici S.p.A. Largo Giuseppe Tartini, 3/4 00198 – Roma

We inform you that Gestore dei Mercati Energetici SpA has made urgent amendments to the Integrated Text of the Electricity Market Rules and to the Gas Market Rules. The amendments are effective as of today, date of their publication.
  ME has reduced the minimum level rating of banking institutions that GME requires for the bank guarantees to be posted for participating in its markets. In particular, GME has amended the provisions of art. 79 of the Electricity Market Rules and of art. 45 of the Gas Market Rules.
Also art. 69 of the Electricity Market Rules has been modified in order to enable Participants having open positions in the physical forward electricity market (MTE) to make an earlier delivery of such positions on the Electricity Account Registration Platform (PCE).
Integrated Text of the Electricity Market Rules
Technical Rule no. 1 rev 4 MTE
Gas Market Rules
 

GME has made some urgent amendments to the structure of the rules governing the operation of the Electricity Market, the PCE, the M-GAS and the P-GAS, in order to make them more easily harmonisable with upcoming provisions on taxation - including those laid down in the recent “Legge Comunitaria 2010” (Community law 2010). The amendments make reference to the related Technical Rules on the procedures and time limits for invoicing and payments adopted in the above-mentioned markets and platforms.

• Integrated Text of the Electricity Market Rules;
• Technical Rule no. 8 rev5 ME, replacing Technical Rule no.8 rev4 ME;
• Technical Rule no. 4 rev4 MCV, replacing Technical Rule no. 4 rev3 MCV;

• Rules Governing the Electricity Account Registration Platform;
• Technical Rule no. 6 rev5 PCE, replacing Technical Rule no. 6 rev4 PCE;

• Regulations of the platform for the trading of bids/offers of natural gas;
• Technical Rule no. 3 rev2 P-GAS, replacing Technical Rule no. 3 rev1 P-GAS;

• Gas Market Rules;
• Technical Rule no. 10 rev2 MGAS, replacing Technical Rule no. 10 rev1 MGAS.

We inform you that GME has introduced urgent amendments to the Integrated Text of the Electricity Market Rules and to the Gas Market Rules with effect as of today’s date of publication.
 

The amendments concern the downward revision of the minimum rating of banks that GME requires for the bank guarantees posted for participating in its markets.
 

In particular, GME has amended the provisions of art.79 of the Electricity Market Rules and of art. 45 of the Gas Market Rules.
 

Integrated Text of the Electricity Market Rules
Gas Market Rules
 

The amended Gas Market Rules are posted on GME’s website www.mercatoelettrico.org in the “The Markets/Gas Markets/M-GAS/legislation” section.