GTS’ revenues to increase by EUR 2 million

The tariffs of Dutch transmission system operator (TSO) for natural gas Gasunie Transport Services (GTS) will increase, on average, by 4 percent in 2018. This has been determined by the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM). The transmission volumes are expected to decrease. On balance, GTS’ revenues will subsequently increase by EUR 2 million to a total of EUR 886 million. It is still unclear what this tariff increase will mean for consumers.

There are two reasons for the tariff increase. First, the tariffs in 2017 were relatively low. In the previous years, GTS had received too much as a result of measurement corrections, which ACM corrected in 2017. Second, GTS is expected to sell less transmission capacity in 2018.

Lower sales by GTS

There are three reasons for the expected lower sales by GTS in 2018:

• Less natural gas will be imported via the Groningen field, and less Groningen gas will be exported.
• Market participants increasingly book transport capacity to their needs, which means they estimate more accurately than before the capacity they need.
• In 2018, the GTS network will be integrated with a pipeline between the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Together, these networks will form a single system. As a result, GTS will no longer sell transport capacity on the connection point between both networks.

Effects on consumers

Consumers and businesses are not directly charged GTS’ transmission costs. However, ACM does expect the effects of the new tariffs to be passed on to them through the gas distributors.

Affordable and secure supply of energy

ACM supports the objective of realizing an affordable and sustainable supply of energy. It regulates system operators, which enjoy a monopoly on the transmission and distribution of electricity and natural gas. ACM’s regulation ensures that tariffs are not higher than necessary, and it offers system operators a reasonable return on their investments.