PROJECTS IMPLEMENTED BY THE ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION OF THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA

1. „Support to the Energy Regulatory Commission for Implementing the Third Energy Package of EU“  (January 2015 ‒ June 2017)   
   In 2014 the Energy Regulatory Commission requested assistance from the Kingdom of Norway for implementing the project „Support to the Energy Regulatory Commission for Implementing the Third Energy Package of EU“. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway provided 625.000 EUR, while the share of the Energy Regulatory Commission was 90.000 EUR, premises, inventory, and other necessary conditions for carrying out the activities during the project realization. The Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technologies, “Ss. Cyril and Methodius” University in Skopje was chosen for implementing the project, in cooperation with the Norwegian consulting company THEMA and the Belgian consulting company European Competence.  Considering that no law on energy transposing the Third Energy Package of EU was adopted within the provided project period, it was decided that most project resources will be destined toward supporting the newly established Department of Energy Markets Monitoring, and key activities were the creation of secondary regulation and development and implementation of a system and adequate software applications for data collection and processing for energy market functioning.  
    
2. Support to the Energy Regulatory Commission for the Introduction of the EU Legislation on Efficient Energy Market in the Republic of Macedonia (December 2011 - December 2014). 
   In 2011 the Energy Regulatory Commission asked for support through the project “Support to the Energy Regulatory Commission for the Introduction of the EU Legislation on Efficient Energy Market in the Republic of Macedonia”, which was supported by the Kingdom of Norway with funding of 950,000 euros. The Norwegian THEMA Consulting Group was selected to implement the project. The Energy Regulatory Commission provided 200,000 euros, and also the premises, office materials and other conditions necessary for the daily work of the hired consultants for the 3-year duration of the project. This project will draw up or revise the rules for a final resort electricity and natural gas supply, market rules for the natural gas, grid rules for electricity and natural gas transmission and distribution, rules for monitoring of the efficiency of the energy markets, etc. 
    
3. Technical Assistance to the Energy Regulatory Commission (September 2009 – July 2011).
   This project was financed by the European Union through the IPA funds, whereby funding of 900,000 euros was provided. The Dutch KEMA Consulting Group was selected to implement the technical assistance project for the Energy Regulatory Commission. The project was officially launched on 18 September 2009. The Project Completion Conference was held on 5 July 2011 in the European Commission Delegation’s Information Centre, and the event was attended by the European Commission Delegation representatives, KEMA consultants, Energy Regulatory Commission representatives, and representatives of other institutions and companies. This final conference presented the results achieved by this project, and the full completion of the project was marked by the convening of the final, 8th meeting of the Steering Committee that comprised of ERC, KEMA, and EC Delegation representatives. This project provided the guidelines and recommendations for the Energy Regulatory Commission to elaborate the by-laws on the electricity market models and electricity market rules; tariff methodologies and price models for electricity and natural gas; final resort supplier; vulnerable consumers; privileged tariffs for electricity production from biomass, waste and geothermal energy; evaluation of the internal organization of the Energy Regulatory Commission, etc.
    
4. Twinning Project for Institutional Strengthening of the Energy Regulatory Commission (January 2010 – April 2011)
   This project was financed by the European Union through the IPA funds, whereby funding of 600,000 euros was provided. The Austrian Agency for European Integration and the Austrian Energy Regulatory Commission (E-Control) was selected to implement the twinning project for the institutional strengthening of the Energy Regulatory Commission. The project was officially launched on 1 January 2010. A number of meetings were organized in 2010 and 2011 between the Energy Regulatory Commission representatives and E-Control representatives discussing the licensing, the compilation of a database for electricity market monitoring, organizational set-up, and cooperation with stakeholders. Workshops were organized for the third EU package of energy legislation, rules for changing the supplier, and smart meters. A special web page was designed for this project:  www.e-twinning.at where the documents and information on events are regularly updated, and opinions and comments on the four components can be provided. The Project Completion Conference was held on 27 April 2011 in the European Commission Delegation’s Information Centre, and the event was attended by the European Commission Delegation representatives, E-Control representatives, Energy Regulatory Commission representatives, and representatives of other institutions. This final conference presented the results achieved by this project, and the full completion of the twinning project was marked by the convening of the final, 6th meeting of the Steering Committee that comprised of ERC, E-Control, and EC Delegation representatives. 
    
5. Other Projects

• Project for the Development of a Methodology for Electricity Prices (2008), funded by the World Bank, totaling 140,000 euros, implemented by the Dutch KEMA Consulting group.
• Project for the Development of Privileged Tariffs for Electricity Producers from Small Hydroelectric Plants (2006), funded by the World Bank, totaling 40,000 euros, implemented by the National Economic Research Associates (NERA Economic Consulting).
• Project for the Development of Pricing Methods for Particular Types of Energy (2004), funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), implemented by the National Economic Research Associates (NERA Economic Consulting).
• Project for the Development of the Licencing Rules (2004), funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), implemented by the Pierce Atwood Consultancy.
• Partnership Programme between the Energy Regulatory Commission and the Vermont Public Service Board (2004 – 2006), which was implemented as part of the cooperation with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC). In accordance with the signed Memorandum of Understanding, this Programme was implemented through a number of meetings in the Republic of Macedonia and in Vermont, USA, whereby experiences and skills were exchanged by the two regulatory bodies in the areas of their competence; and on issues such as decision-making processes; relations of the regulatory bodies to other national authorities, consumer associations, and the media; providing publicity and transparency in the work of regulatory bodies; access to public information; electricity market structure and functioning; tariffing and pricing; consumer protection; quality of service and liability of energy companies for the provision of public services.
• Technical Assistance for the Development of the Energy Regulatory Commission of the Republic of Macedonia (July 2003 – August 2004), funded by the European Agency for Reconstruction in the Republic of Macedonia (EAR), implemented by the IKRP Rokas & Partners legal company.