Conditions for connecting to power grids have been simplified in Ukraine – what has changed for consumers

From June 1, changes to the Code of Distribution Systems come into force in Ukraine, which simplify the conditions for connecting consumers to power grids. From now on, this requires fewer documents, accession agreements have become public, and their terms are simpler.

This was discussed at the NEURCU briefing on Monday, May 17, Kosatka.Media reports.

According to Dmytro Kovalenko, member of NEURC, the methodology of accession, which was used so far, at first glance was correct but opened up opportunities for many cases of abuse. Therefore, with the issuance of technical specifications, their implementation began to change from consumer to consumer depending on certain situations. There were also corruption risks.

What will change from June 1:

  • accession agreements will be public;

Earlier, people complained to NEURC that they could not connect to the power grids for a year. According to Kovalenko, some DSOs offered a long term contract immediately upon signing the accession agreement.

“Today the agreement is public. Its signing takes place by paying an advance payment. Fixed payment. Any other changes to this contract are action on the part of the DSO or consumers, which must be understood and its consequences must be assessed,” Kovalenko said.

  • there will be fewer documents attached to the application for accession;

It is no longer necessary to add copies of personal documents and copies of property documents. There is no need to make copies of topographic and geodetic plans at the required scale.

“There is no need to provide these documents. Instead, you need to specify the data of electronic registers and the mark of the location of the point of attachment. The rest must be done by the operators of the distribution system,” Kovalenko explained.

  • simplification of acceptance of the terms of the agreement on connection to electric grids for customers;

In this case, a signature is not required – the accession to the agreement takes place by paying for the service. Also, the need to coordinate projects for internal power supply below 27.5 kV is removed.

  • The DSO should post and constantly update information on the provision of services for connection to grids on its own websites – in a separate section “Connection to electric grids”.

Also, the DSO must maintain a public electronic register of the current technical conditions for connection.

  • electrification of complex buildings;

Electrification of territories, subject to complex development with individual housing development (except for apartment buildings), must be carried out by the DSO at the expense of the electricity distribution tariff by including the DSO in the investment program in the prescribed manner no later than 2 years after the approval of the design and estimate documentation. No other sources are provided.

“Earlier, it was stated that complex development is possible due to the investment program. And it was a matter of agreement and the possibility of the DSOs with the local authorities to take the appropriate action. Today, after the introduction of incentive regulation, we believe that this norm should be mandatory. It happens in the following way. When the detailed plan of built-up territories determines the territory that is planned for development, if there are no electric networks of the distribution system operator on this territory today, local authorities define this territory as a territory of complex development, turn to the DSO to become the developer of this territory upon the corresponding application. The DSO must accept the application, make a project, include the design and implementation of construction in the investment program and carry out the work,” Kovalenko explained.

Moreover, these territories should really develop and there should be the construction. The DSO should not spend money on the construction of facilities that will simply stand in the field.

What else is it proposed to change

NEURC mentions that there is a need for changes in legislation, which is beyond the powers of the Commission, including the problem of land allocation. The Regulator expects the Verkhovna Rada to pass bill No.5009, which should simplify the accession procedure.

By the end of 2021, it is planned to introduce the Regulator's software complex with online control of the provision of interconnection services.

“This means that the register of connections will be kept under the control of the Regulator. Those parts that do not contain confidential data will be made public. And all customers can control, confirm or give their comments on the procedure for their accession,” Kovalenko said.

According to him, the process of creating the complex is already in the pipeline. The terms of reference are now being formed. NEURC plans to launch this complex by the end of 2021.

The ideology is a general register of accessions. It will contain a lot (more than 150) points for each consumer, for NEURC to quickly and automatically track the results of each connection: when the application was submitted; whether it was rejected; if it was continued, then whether the DSOs agreed with this application for accession on time; if it was continued, what are the reasons; how far has been continued. And so on until the end, when the certificate of completion is signed and the connection is ensured.

“If any action falls out of the regulatory standards, or it takes longer than the average for such work, the Commission will automatically create a request to the DSO and ensure its control through our local offices or the central office. If during this analysis certain violations are revealed, measures of regulatory influence will be immediately used, without waiting for the consumer's own appeal,” Kovalenko said.

Kovalenko said that NEURC needed to unify the maintenance of registers of connections for DSOs to keep it in a single format. After that, the DSO will only need to control the connection of applicants to their own networks.

Also, NEURC will continue to reduce the cost of connection

Kovalenko said that NEURC has approved lower rates than in the previous period for 2 years annually.

“This made it possible to introduce incentive regulation. DSOs were undertaken to be carried out the entire main part within the framework of investment projects. And predict them in advance. And only those parts that will relate to the direct customer (the linear part, perhaps some kind of small reconstruction of the object) will occur due to the connection. The rates are reduced, but there is no possibility to reduce them to zero. Because when earlier there was a very low rate for connection, people began to take capacities “just in case”, but in fact use them by 2.5%,” Kovalenko explained.

He added that when the interconnection network was developed, the interconnection will consist only of the components of the interconnection cost: “As far as you are from the network, you will pay so much. The rest will be at the expense of the licensee."

What has already been done to make connections easier

NEURC has more than once simplified the terms of connection. In particular, several steps were taken in 2017-2020:

  • 2017 – Adoption of the Electricity Market Law.

  • 2018-2019 – based on this law, a new accession paradigm was formed. Almost everywhere, except for DSO, the ideology of payment for connection following the design and estimate documentation was given up and switched to the ideology of rates for connection. The rates are calculated following the aggregated indicators of the cost of construction, approved by the Ministry of Energy. And then the coefficient was used – depending on the region, the final figures were formed.

Today, the fluctuations in these figures are very high – from UAH 400/kWh to UAH 3000/kWh. It depends on the area, the load of the substation, the voltage level where the consumer is connected.

  • 2018-2019 – changes have been made to regulatory documents. First of all, the Transmission System Code. Now it is possible to make a non-standard "turnkey" connection. Mandatory placement of a geodetic information system on the website of each DSO (this made it possible for each subject to see the shortest distance to the DSO networks and calculate the approximate cost of connection using a calculator on the NEURC website). The deadlines for the provision of interconnection services were clearly defined and the procedure for providing payment for the cost of interconnections was standardized. The procedure for issuing technical specifications has been improved. It also became possible to exchange information remotely.

According to Kovalenko, it got better, but not perfect. There were still many problems, caused by imperfect legislation, abuses on the part of the DSO, the willingness of customers to "negotiate" and their low awareness.

From March 17, 2021, amendments to the Rules for the Retail Electricity Market began to take effect.

“What is the essence of the changes? There was a large run-up in the capacity that DSO offered to consumers when concluding new or renegotiating contracts. It ranged from 0.8 to 3-5 kW. I emphasize: the connection took place, the people were powered, but when the reconstruction or modernization of the existing networks was carried out, in some areas or companies people received lower quality of services than before the reconstruction. NEURC made a new standard - not less than 5 kW, which should be offered by DSO to consumers. At the same time, it is necessary to bring this norm of the technical condition of the networks. Accordingly, this norm is introduced in two stages. The first one is that consumers must be offered 3 kW after the entry into force of this procedure, and within 2 years bring it to 5 kW by upgrading the networks,” Kovalenko explained.

In the case of multi-family buildings, the responsibility for the safety of people (and the modernization of in-house electrical networks) is not the responsibility of the Distribution System Operator, but the landlord or management company. And when providing the DSO to the consumer of 5 kW belonging to him, it is they who must confirm with their signature the possibility and safety of this.

Tags: electricity, NEURC, electricity consumption, consumers

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