Booking capacity at FCFS network points

On 11 December 2018, the Dutch regulator Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) published its decision to change the tariff structures and conditions in the Tariff Code Gas TSO, Transmission Code Gas TSO, and the definitions code implementing the European network code on harmonised transmission tariff structures for gas (NC TAR). The new tariff structure became effective at the start of 2020. The main change, besides the introduction of 5 capacity products, is an all-in postage stamp tariff for entry and exit points. For details, we refer to the 'terms and conditions' section.

As of 2020, the transmission capacity that can be booked is split up into 5 capacity products, i.e. yearly, quarterly, monthly, day and within-day products. These products can only be booked separately and each booking gets a unique booking ID. This is a change with respect to the procedure that was in place until the end of 2019. The following headlines will provide details of this switch and the resources that GTS is making available to help shippers book the best possible combination of FCFS capacity products. The FCFS-based booking process will also be explained.

The new tariff structure distinguishes the same 5 capacity products for domestic entry and exit points as are also used for the interconnection points, i.e. the yearly, quarterly, monthly, day and within-day capacity products. All these capacity products have the same start date, start time, and runtime as the standard capacity products for interconnection points. The only exception is the yearly capacity product, which can start from any gas month (for example: 01/02/2020 06:00) and then be effective for the subsequent 12 consecutive months.

From 1 January 2021, GTS will also offer the interruptible within-day capacity product for domestic ('FCFS') network points via the PRISMA platform in addition to the firm within-day capacity product. Offering interruptible capacity had previously been made possible for the daily capacity product. GTS only offers interruptible products at FCFS network points where firm capacity is sold out or at risk of being sold out. In addition, when the booking behavior of shippers shows, or when shippers indicate to GTS that there is a greater need for capacity at an FCFS network point, we will investigate the possibilities of making extra firm capacity available at the relevant network point. In this way we always try to make (firm or interruptible) capacity available that meets the market needs.

A booking can only be for one capacity product at a time, i.e. a yearly, quarterly, monthly, day or within-day capacity product. This ensures a 1-to-1 relationship between booking and capacity product from booking through to invoicing. If you want to book for a period other than one of the 5 'standard' capacity products, you will have to make multiple bookings. Example: you can book capacity from 1 February 2020 through to 1 July 2020 on a monthly booking for February and a quarterly booking for April to June.

Shippers are responsible for booking the right (combination of) capacity products. To help shippers choose the best possible combination of capacity products for booking periods or booking profiles, which in the pre-2020 tariff structure could be booked on one single booking, GTS has made two calculation tools available on its website. These calculation tools offer the following optimisation options:

• Conversion of a non-flat or profile booking for one year into the best possible combination of yearly, quarterly and monthly capacity products ('calculation tool profiled booking').
• Conversion of a flat booking for a booking period that is not the same as the runtime of a capacity product into the best possible combination of yearly, quarterly, monthly and day capacity products ('calculation tool period booking').

Both these optimisation options recommend, based on the user’s input, the most economical combination of capacity products for the customer. These calculation tools let you determine the best possible combination before making a booking. Optimisation afterwards is also possible, albeit only on the condition that you have booked all capacity products on the same day and submitted an optimisation request to GTS. This kind of retroactive optimisation is described in Article 2.1.2 of the Transmission Code Gas TSO.

Despite the option to optimise the combination afterwards, please try to optimise beforehand as much as possible by using the calculation tool. Needless to say, we will be glad to help you with that. If you have any questions, feel free to contact our Customer Desk.

Capacity can be booked on PRISMA by selecting the 'Transport' section and then the 'FCFS booking' subsection. PRISMA supports combined booking requests (contracting) and booking enquiries (availability check). Booking requests are automatically preceded by an explicit booking enquiry. The shipper is notified of the result of this enquiry (an internal check by GTS specifies whether the requested capacity is available or GTS offers an alternative) and can then proceed with the actual booking to register the capacity.

You can book your capacity until the nomination lead time (120 or 30 minutes before start of flow) has been reached. Please be aware of the processing time needed to pass the booking on to the nomination system, most likely within 5 minutes. Therefore we advise you to book your capacity at least 30 minutes before that deadline and take some time (like 5 minutes) between booking and nomination. This way, if nominations are rejected because the booking is not fully processed, you can still re-nominate in time. The risk you would take otherwise is that you would not be able to use the first hour of your capacity contract. 

GTS may need to process booking requests on PRISMA manually, such as when a shipper wants to book more capacity than available on the network point over the requested period. GTS will then send a reply saying that the request will be processed manually. If the requested capacity can be made available, GTS will let the shipper know; the capacity is subsequently allocated and the booking is finalised. If the requested capacity is not available, the shipper will receive a rejection notice.

If a shipper is initially interested only in an availability check for the required capacity, the shipper can contact GTS' Customer Desk. We will then check whether the required capacity is available. If the capacity is available and the shipper wants to go ahead and book the capacity, GTS will make the requested capacity available on the requested point. The shipper can then book this capacity on PRISMA and the booking will also be confirmed to the shipper on PRISMA.

There is an emergency procedure available when it turns out not to be possible to book capacity on PRISMA due to an outage. In such an exceptional situation, shippers can ask GTS to book capacity on their behalf by filling in the 'Entry and/or exit capacity request' form, signing it, and emailing it to both CCPContractDispatching@gastransport.nl and customerdesk@gastransport.nl.