Surrender of Capacity (SoC)

GTS will offer this capacity again in the auction at the PRISMA platform. Capacity returned by shippers will only be sold after GTS has sold its own technically available capacity. During the auction, the returned capacity can not be distinguished from regular GTS capacity.

The returning shipper remains the owner of the capacity as long as the capacity has not been resold. The capacity offered via a SoC request cannot be used on the secondary market (for example Transfer of Capacity or Usage Rights or Diversion) until the relevant auction has ended. If the surrendered capacity is not sold, the shipper will have full access to it again.

In case the returned capacity has been sold (in whole or in part) to a new shipper, the returning shipper is released from its payment obligation for the part sold.

All returned capacity is auctioned at a virtual interconnection point (VIP) regardless of whether the original contract is at a virtual or a regular interconnection point. Unsold returned capacity remains at the (virtual or regular) interconnection point on which the contract is located.

After the auction, the returning shipper will be notified by GTS by email of the status of the SoC request.

GTS does not charge any additional fees for submitting a SoC request.

• Because the CMP rules apply to the return of bundled capacity, a SoC can result in contracts being split, leaving a shipper with unbundled capacity. For example, if a shipper returns bundled capacity to be auctioned and GTS still has (technical) capacity available but the NNO does not, GTS will sell its own (technical) capacity while the NNO sells the returned capacity. This results in a (partial) splitting of a contract for bundled capacity.
• SoC is only allowed for contracted capacity without any restrictions. A SoC is not possible if additional terms apply (e.g. capacity under construction in the event of an Open Season contract.) A shipper can only return capacity if he has both capacity and usage rights.
• SoC is possible for Yearly, Quarterly or Monthly auctions with firm forward flow. SoC is also possible for Monthly auctions of firm capacity in the counter flow direction. SoC does not apply to interruptible capacity and/or day-ahead and within-day auctions.
• Submitting a SoC request is subject to a deadline. For Yearly, Quarterly and Monthly auctions, the request must have been successfully processed at least 5 working days before the publication of the auction on PRISMA. The deadlines for submission can be found in the auction calendaron the GTS website.
• A SoC request requires a flat profile.
• Each SoC request is given a unique SoC timestamp. SoC capacity offered at auction is sold in order of timestamp (from old to new) per network point.

For more information, see teh Online help section on Prisma.