Consultation on the draft TSC for 2021

The TSC contains general conditions concerning the transmission of natural gas and the performance of related services as part of agreements between GTS and a shipper or AMEX (end user with exit capacity). These general conditions supplement the Dutch gas codes as established by the regulatory authority, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM).

A number of changes have been made in comparison with the 2020 TSC. The version for consultation can be found here. All changes (except those in Appendix 1) are marked (with track changes). Below we explain the changes made.

Due to changes to the Transmission Code Gas – TSO that came into effect on 22 May 2020, it has been necessary to make a number of changes to the TSC. This is mainly due to the introduction of the neutrality charge and clarification of the circumstances under which GTS may revoke a licence (as explained in our June 2020 newsletter):

• In the main body of the agreement (articles 5.1, 5.2, 5.10, 5.11, 6.A.10, 6.A.11 and 6.A.12) the ‘neutrality charge’ (NC) has been added to the formula for calculating the all-in price. The ‘amount chargeable’ has also been adjusted accordingly.
• An extra sheet has been added to Appendix 1 showing the amounts for the neutrality charge. This means that there are now 3 sheets with the prices, i.e. ‘Total prices’, ‘Transmission tariffs’ and ‘Neutrality charge’.
• In the main body, Article 6A.10 has been amended to bring the TSC in line with the recently added article B1.10(4) of the Transmission Code Gas - TSO. The addition of this article gives GTS the authority to immediately revoke a licence if the credit limit is substantially exceeded. The current term in the TSC of five days to provide financial security is contrary to the Transmission Code Gas - TSO and will therefore be removed.

In addition, a number of changes have been made to the main body and appendices to clarify and improve the current text.

• The term 'declaration of acceptance' has been removed from Article 1.3 because this declaration is now part of the application form for a new license. The term ‘declaration of acceptance’ is not used in the TSC or in the gas codes.
• Articles 5.9.2 and 5.9.3 have been removed, given that Article 4.4.2 of the Transmission Code Gas – TSO applies to this situation and further nuances in the TSC are not necessary.
• A number of specifications have been adjusted in appendix 1:
  • For the Emden network point (301113), ‘YES’ was entered under ‘Bundled’. This field will be left empty from now on.
  • For the Weert Vrakker network point (Z-085), ‘Stedin’ was entered as the network operator. This will be changed to ‘Enexis’.
  • In the ‘Gas system’ column, for a few of the network points information taken from the Dutch Regulation on the quality of natural gas (Regeling gaskwaliteit) was included, but the majority of the fields were left empty. The relevant information from this regulation has now been entered in this column for all applicable network points, and a table has been added under the ‘explanation’ tab stating how this information can be found in the regulation. 
• In appendix 2a, the Wobbe minimum for the Harlingen network point (301088) has been changed from 13.61 to 13.14 kWh/m3(n).
• Appendix 3 now includes which diversions are possible from and to a VIP or domestic point (FCFS) respectively, and which procedure applies.

In appendix 5, article 2.3(d) has been amended to make it clearer that nomination is not required when an exit point is connected to a DSO point. Article 4.8 has been supplemented to make clear that the ‘Producer Prevail’ matching rule also applies to the Balgzand NAM LC (301072) and ROTTERDAM (GATE) (301345) network points. In addition, the contact details for the GTS dispatching centre have been updated.