The National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) has requested a greater capacity for self-organization for the future National Energy Commission (CNE) than that presented in its preliminary draft, as well as the establishment of a transition plan for its implementation. March.
The body from which energy powers will be collected for the CNE has given the green light to its report on the preliminary draft Law to reestablish the National Energy Commission and create the Fund for the Economic-Financial Management of Sector Settlements Electrical and Gas Sector.
In the document, published this Friday, the CNMC has proposed improvements in the independence of the CNE, such as a greater capacity for self-organization, more financial and budgetary autonomy, and participation in the regulatory processes for attributing new functions.
The CNMC, which ensures that in recent years it has assumed supervisory functions to combat the impact of prices on the client and processing subsidies, has requested that in the future the attribution of new functions to the CNE requires, regardless of the instrument regulatory, the issuance of a mandatory and non-binding report by the regulatory authority.
According to the organization, the preliminary draft should present more details in relation to the coordination of the CNE with other organizations and, especially, with the CNMC, also taking into account the autonomous competition defense authorities.
They have also pointed out that the preliminary draft presents a lack of uniformity in the appointment of management personnel that does not respond to specific reasons, and they have advised unifying the method of appointment of the secretary of the Council, the secretary general, the heads of the instruction directorates, and the head of the internal control body, as well as the rest of the management staff. It has also presented improvements to guarantee the rights of the labor and civil servants who join the CNE.
The Commission has clarified that the CNE’s functions of initiating and investigating sanctioning proceedings that must be handled by the General Administration of the State must be eliminated, as they do not correspond to the nature of an independent administration. Likewise, the continuous supervision regime of the CNE stipulated in the draft law would compromise the independence of the energy regulator from the rest of the public entities and its functional independence.
In relation to the Fund for the Management of Settlements of the Electricity and Gas Sector (FGLSEG) integrated into the project, the CNMC considers that its control regime should not interfere in the liquidation procedure. Furthermore, the Commission points out that although the fund seems justified for the electricity sector, its expansion to natural gas raises doubts, since it does not fit into the regulations for the liquidation of regulated gas activities, charges and the technical manager’s quota. . of the gas system (GTS).
They assure that the implementation of another liquidation model that involves the income of the balances of the debtor subjects to transfer it to the creditors through the Fund would not improve the current model.
The CNMC has emphasized the need to establish a transition plan, involving all the public administrations involved, which guarantees the implementation of the CNE and the unrestricted continuity of the exercise of its powers by the CNMC.
The report has gone ahead with a dissenting vote from councilor Carlos Aguilar Paredes, who does not agree that the document approved by the majority of the CNMC plenary session does not include considerations such as the draft having transitional provisions to guarantee the independence of the current authority. . of regulation.
Risks for management
According to Aguilar, the absence of a transitional regime would allow changing the composition of the members of the independent regulatory body and would deprive the current members of the Council of being able to exercise the functions assigned to them in terms of supervision and control, both in the electricity sector and in the electrical sector. That of natural gas, during the 6 years of his mandate.
The counselor considers that this poses a risk to the guarantees of independence of the national authority, established in the European directives on common standards for the internal market in electricity and natural gas.
