Energy Community opens dispute settlement procedure against Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Ukraine

The Energy Community Secretariat initiated ex officio preliminary dispute settlement procedures against Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Ukraine for the lack of unbundling of the countries’ electricity distribution system operators.  In its Opening Letters, the Secretariat takes the view that the three Contracting Parties fail to comply with their obligations under the Energy Community Treaty by (completely, partly or incorrectly) not having transposed the unbundling requirements of the Third Energy Package into national legislation and not having taken measures to implement legal and functional unbundling of their national electricity distribution system operators in practice. The electricity distribution system operators of the three countries still have fully integrated legal and functional governance structures for electricity distribution and supply.

Unbundling of distribution system operators is one of the central elements of electricity market liberalisation and has been obligatory in the Energy Community since 2015. Only when separated from other segments of the energy supply chain can distribution system operators act independently and consumers benefit from greater choice of electricity supply companies, which in turn offer improved services at a fair price.

Interested parties may be granted access to the case file and may submit written observations on the present case. All requests for information should be addressed to the Deputy Director and Legal Counsel at [email protected] or +43 1 535 2222 24 and should make reference to the relevant case number.