‘Direct line’ in the European Union Internal Electricity Market means either an electricity line linking an isolated generation site with an isolated customer or an electricity line linking an electricity producer and an electricity supply undertaking to supply directly their own premises, subsidiaries and eligible customers (Article 2(15) of the Directive 2009/72/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity and repealing Directive 2003/54/EC).
Directive 2009/72/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity
Article 34
Direct lines
1. Member States shall take the measures necessary to enable:
(a) all electricity producers and electricity supply undertakings established within their territory to supply their own premises, subsidiaries and eligible customers through a direct line; and
(b) all eligible customers within their territory to be supplied through a direct line by a producer and supply undertakings.
2. Member States shall lay down the criteria for the grant of authorisations for the construction of direct lines in their territory. Those criteria shall be objective and non-discriminatory.
3. The possibility of supplying electricity through a direct line as referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall not affect the possibility of contracting electricity in accordance with Article 32.
4. Member States may issue an authorisation to construct a direct line subject either to the refusal of system access on the basis, as appropriate, of Article 32 or to the opening of a dispute settlement procedure under Article 37.
5. Member States may refuse to authorise a direct line if the granting of such an authorisation would obstruct the provisions of Article 3. Duly substantiated reasons shall be given for such refusal.
The so-called 'Winter Energy Package' proposed the following rules regarding direct lines in the electricity system (see Article 7 of the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the internal market for electricity (recast) on common rules for the internal market in electricity (recast), 30.11.2016, COM(2016) 864 final 2016/0380 (COD)):
"Article 7
Direct lines
1. Member States shall take the measures necessary to enable:
(a) all electricity producers and electricity supply undertakings established within their territory to supply their own premises, subsidiaries and customers through a direct line;
(b) all customers within their territory to be supplied through a direct line by a producer and supply undertakings.
2. Member States shall lay down the criteria for the grant of authorisations for the construction of direct lines in their territory. Those criteria shall be objective and non-discriminatory.
3. The possibility of supplying electricity through a direct line as referred to in paragraph 1 shall not affect the possibility of contracting electricity in accordance with Article 6.
4. Member States may issue an authorisation to construct a direct line subject either to the refusal of system access on the basis, as appropriate, of Article 6 or to the opening of a dispute settlement procedure under Article 60.
5. Member States may refuse to authorise a direct line if the granting of such an authorisation would obstruct application of the provisions on public service obligations pursuant to of Article 9. Duly substantiated reasons shall be given for such refusal".
It is visible that the above ‘Winter Energy Package’ proposals represent almost exact reflection of existing Article 34 of the Directive 2009/72/EC, the modifications are merely cosmetic. However, more substantial amendments were envisioned in this regard by the Report of the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) of 27 February 2018 on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on common rules for the internal market in electricity (recast) (COM(2016)0864 – C8-0495/2016 – 2016/0380(COD)):
- at the end of Article 7(1)(a) the following words were added:
“without being subject to disproportionate administrative procedures or costs related for instance to the need for a supply licence”;
- Article 7(1)(b) was proposed the following wording:
“all customers within their territory individually or jointly, to be supplied through a direct line by a producer and supply undertakings”;
- Article 7(3) was proposed the following wording:
“The possibility of supplying electricity through a direct line as referred to in paragraph 1 shall not affect the possibility of contracting electricity in accordance with Article 6 and shall not affect the right of the customer to sign a second supply contract for the residual electricity demand.”
ITRE argued that the above modifications were necessary because “moving to renewables, efforts of individuals or groups to power their operations and activities with electricity produced by an installation connected to their premises via a direct line should be facilitated. Removal of expensive supply licenses and enabling a customer to sign a second supply contract for the same metering point to supply residual electricity demand are such enablers. This is essential for achievement of active customers.” Moreover, ITRE indicated that amendments were to enable contracting simultaneously with several suppliers.
It is clearly visible from the above comparison that the ITRE Committee sees much greater role for direct lines in the EU electricity market than the European Commission.
Finally, the definitive text of the recast Electricity Directive has been adopted, with respect to direct lines, in the form as in the box below. The propositions of the ITRE Committee have been in this regard accepted.
Directive (EU) 2019/944 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on common rules for the internal market for electricity, Article 2(41), Article 7
Article 2(41)
‘direct line’ means either an electricity line linking an isolated generation site with an isolated customer or an electricity line linking a producer and an electricity supply undertaking to supply directly their own premises, subsidiaries and customers
Article 7
Direct lines
1. Member States shall take the measures necessary to enable:
(a) all producers and electricity supply undertakings established within their territory to supply their own premises, subsidiaries and customers through a direct line, without being subject to disproportionate administrative procedures or costs;
(b) all customers within their territory, individually or jointly, to be supplied through a direct line by producers and electricity supply undertakings.
2. Member States shall lay down the criteria for the grant of authorisations for the construction of direct lines in their territory. Those criteria shall be objective and non-discriminatory.
3. The possibility of supplying electricity through a direct line as referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall not affect the possibility of contracting electricity in accordance with Article 6.
4. Member States may issue authorisations to construct a direct line, subject either to the refusal of system access on the basis, as appropriate, of Article 6 or to the opening of a dispute settlement procedure under Article 60.
5. Member States may refuse to authorise a direct line if the granting of such an authorisation would obstruct the application of the provisions on public service obligations in Article 9. Duly substantiated reasons shall be given for such a refusal.
Documentation
Directive (EU) 2019/944 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on common rules for the internal market for electricity, Article 2(41), Article 7
Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the internal market for electricity (recast) on common rules for the internal market in electricity (recast), 30.11.2016, COM(2016) 864 final 2016/0380 (COD)
Directive 2009/72/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity and repealing Directive 2003/54/EC, Article 2(15), Article 34
Links