Energy committee supported REMIT bill before the second reading

The Verkhovna Rada Committee on Energy, Housing, and Communal Services decided to recommend second-reading and general of the bill No. 5322 on preventing abuse in wholesale energy markets by the Verkhovna Rada.

The relevant decision was made at a meeting on April 28.

The main provisions of the bill are:

- Introduction of anti-abuse tools;

- Prohibition of manipulation;

- Disclosure of insider information;

- Obligation to report suspicious transactions;

- Conducting abuse investigations

A few Committee amendments to bill No. 5322 were also supported. In particular, the relevant amendments to renewable generation were supported to extend the validity of technical conditions and pre-PPA contracts for 1 year.

According to the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee Andriy Herus, the Committee recommended to adopt the methodology for determining abuses and fines by the Regulator after consultation with the Energy Community, as well as imposing the first 2 years' fines/sanctions after respective consultations. The maximum fine for manipulation is UAH 460 million; for non-disclosure - up to UAH 46 million.

As the press centre of the Energy Committee noted, during the consideration of the main provisions of the bill No. 5322 on the implementation of the REMIT regulations, Director of the Energy Community Secretariat Artur Lorkowski, Minister-Adviser to the EU Delegation to Ukraine Torsten Wollert, and Deputy Head of the USAID Energy Security Project Vadym Virchenko supported the bill and testified to the compliance of the bill with international rules and practices, and also called on the Parliament to approve it in the second reading and in general in the near future.