Code amendment balancing regime: NextHour product to be discontinued as balancing tool

Effective 1 January 2026, GTS will only use the End-of-Day (EOD) product for balancing purposes. GTS will then no longer be permitted to use the NextHour product. It has also been determined that a financial levy of 10% and 20% respectively will be applied on top of the transaction price for balancing actions in the “orange” and “red” zones. These levies are intended to encourage network users to remain in the safe dark green zone as much as possible.

The amendments are the result of a decision published by the Dutch regulator ACM on 17 December 2025.

This code change will enable network users to more easily receive or deliver physical volume in all balancing actions, as they will be able to obtain transport capacity in a timely manner when necessary and thus make better use of gas storage facilities, interconnection points and industrial exit and entry points.

The reasoning behind this decision was that ACM, GTS and network users were concerned about the reduced liquidity and sometimes unpredictable pricing of the NextHour product during balancing actions taken by GTS. These concerns were explained in detail in previous news items and during earlier Shipper Meetings. The liquidity of the EOD product is excellent and pricing is orderly.

The full text of ACM's decision can be found here.

If you have any questions regarding this decision, please contact the Customer Desk.