Following the Memorandum of Understanding signed on 11 July 2013, the 5M MC Steering Committee, consisting of representatives of national regulatory authorities (ERÚ, ÚRSO, HEA, URE and ANRE), transmission system operators (ČEPS, SEPS, MAVIR, PSE, and Transelectrica) and power exchanges (OTE, OKTE, HUPX, TGE, and OPCOM) from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and Romania, discussed the next steps in market integration of the day-ahead electricity markets.
Initially, parties faced a fundamental question on market organization in the context of other integration activities and interconnected electricity markets. A public survey addressed to companies active on the five markets aimed to gather feedback on possible implication of the proposed arrangements, mainly setting of a gate closure time (GCT) for entering the bids and scope of market integration (consult the survey questionnaire here).
Based on a thorough analysis of the survey results, the national regulators (NRAs) concluded that there is no common position among the market participants in all involved markets regarding the proposed scenarios of five-market market coupling. In order not to hinder further market integration, the Steering Committee adopted the NRAs position that the market coupling project will start with 11:00 GCT and will involve the day-ahead electricity markets of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania. Compliance with NWE (North West Europe) region will be sought as much as possible. Close cooperation among 5M Market Coupling Project partners will be ensured to contribute to future market integration. The common opinion is that coupling of the Polish market area will be implemented later in the context of the CEE FBMC (Central East Europe Flow-Based Market Coupling) initiative. In the meantime, five power exchanges will continue to cooperate on implementation of the PCR solution (Price Coupling of Regions) declared as the target model in order to be ready for the European integration.