Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1162 of 6 June 2023 on interoperability requirements and non-discriminatory and transparent procedures for access to metering and consumption data (Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Directive (EU) 2019/944 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on common rules for the internal market for electricity and amending Directive 2012/27/EU (1), and in particular Article 24(2) thereof,

After consulting the Electricity Cross-Border Committee,

Whereas:

(1) Directive (EU) 2019/944 introduced a number of rules empowering consumers and providing them with the tools to access data on consumption and costs. Notably, smart metering systems that enable consumers to access objective and transparent consumption data should be interoperable and able to provide data required for consumer energy management systems. To that end, Directive (EU) 2019/944 requires Member States to have due regard to the use of relevant available standards, including standards that enable interoperability on the level of the data model and the application layer, to best practices and the importance of the development of data exchange, to future and innovative energy services, to the deployment of smart grids and to the internal market for electricity.

(2) This Regulation is the first from a series of implementing acts that should be developed setting out interoperability requirements and non-discriminatory and transparent procedures for access to data in order to fully implement Article 24 of Directive (EU) 2019/944. The rules laid down in this Regulation are to facilitate the interoperability and increase the effectiveness of transactions that involve data access and exchange by market participants, and ultimately of energy services, promote competition in the retail market and help avoid excessive administrative costs for the eligible parties.

(3) This Regulation applies to metering and consumption data in the form of validated historical metering and consumption data and non-validated near-real time metering and consumption data. It lays down rules enabling final customers in the retail electricity market and eligible parties to access this data, in a timely, simple and secure manner. Moreover, it ensures that suppliers and service providers have transparent and seamless access to final customers’ data, in a manner that the data is easy for them to understand and use, provided that customers have given the required permission. Upon receiving this permission, the metered data administrator provides the relevant data covered by this authorisation to the eligible party chosen by the final customer. Moreover, this specific authorisation procedure could be linked to a contractual agreement, or to an explicit clause within the contractual agreement with the eligible party. This way, interoperability is ensured in a manner that respects consumer rights over their data, and market participants have a shared understanding of the type of data and workflows that are required for specific services and processes. Customers can be required to give permission to suppliers or other market participants such as aggregators as part of their contractual agreements. Where a customer terminates their contract with a supplier or other market participant, the supplier or market participant should continue to have access to the metering data necessary for billing or balancing purposes. Member States may require certain metering data to be shared for legitimate public purposes, for instance with environmental or statistical authorities as well as with system operators or other market participants.

(4) For the purposes of this Regulation, near-real time data should involve meter readings coming from smart metering systems for which the start of works began after 4 July 2019, or which are put into use systematically after this date, in accordance with Article 19(6) and Article 20 of the Directive (EU) 2019/944. Such data can be acquired for further use and processing by an energy management system, an in-home display, or another system which for the purposes of this Regulation is referred to as ‘near real-time data consumption system’.

(5) Industry practice is to separate interoperability into five layers. The business layer relates to the business objectives and roles for certain services or processes. The function layer relates to the use cases, data sharing and permission management. The information layer relates to data models and information models, such as CIM (2). The communication layer relates to the communication protocols and data formats such as CSV (3) or XML (4). The component layer relates to data exchange platforms, applications and hardware such as meters and sensors.

(6) The present Regulation lays down a set of rules for interoperability for access to metering and consumption data taking into account existing national practices. The ‘reference model’ set out in this Regulation defines common rules and procedures at Union level for the business, function and information layers, in line with national practices.

(7) Fulfilment of these interoperability requirements and compliance with the procedures for access to data depends on Member States using the same reference model for metering and consumption data. By establishing a reference model, this Regulation aims at ensuring that market participants have a mutual and clear understanding of the roles, responsibilities and procedures for access to data. At the same time, implementation of the reference model allows Member States to determine the communication and component layers in accordance with national specificities and practices.

(8) The reference model describes workflows that are required for specific services and processes based on a minimum set of requirements to ensure that a given procedure can run correctly, while allowing for national customisation. It is composed of (i) a ‘role model’ with a set of roles/responsibilities and their interactions; (ii) an ‘information model’ that contains information objects, their attributes, and the relationships between these objects; and (iii) a ‘process model’ detailing the procedural steps.

(9) The reference model is technology-neutral and not directly tied to any specific implementation details. However, the reference model reflects, as far as possible, definitions and terminology that are used in available standards and the relevant European initiatives, such as the Harmonised Electricity Market Role Model (5) and the International Electrotechnical Commission’s Common Information Model2. Where possible, the reference model should use available European standards.

(10) This Regulation describes the roles and responsibilities of market participants in the exchange of information under the reference model, including the roles and responsibilities of the metered data administrator, the metering point administrator, the data access provider and the permission administrator. Market participants that exchange information following the specific procedures described in this Regulation should be able to assume roles and responsibilities assigned by the reference model individually or jointly and may also carry out more than one role.

(11) It is important that eligible parties have the possibility to test their products and procedures before deploying them. Metered data administrators and permission administrators, including a central entity if so designated by the Member State, should provide eligible parties access to facilities to test their products and services in advance before deployment as far as possible, to avoid technical implementation problems, and to fine-tune their operations to ensure that their products and services run smoothly in line with the procedures of this Regulation.

(12) Under this implementing Regulation, and to assist with the identification and the authentication of parties that are requesting access to data, Member States are recommended to encourage data access providers and permission administrators to support, as far as possible, digital solutions compliant with Regulation (EU) No ° 910/ 2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6) (‘eIDAS Regulation’) to electronically identify and authenticate final customers and/or eligible parties. When doing so, data-access providers and permission administrators should make good use of already rolled-out national infrastructure. Using digital solutions should help increase the effectiveness of energy-related online services and transactions, and electronic business and commerce in the Union.

(13) It is important that not only eligible parties, but also customers have access to their own data, including data from smart metering. Therefore, this Regulation ensures that final customers have access also to non-validated near real-time metering and consumption data from smart metering systems if they request it in line with point (e) of Article 20 of Directive (EU) 2019/944.

(14) Member States may choose how to implement the interoperability requirements in their national system reflecting national practices, in particular regarding aspects linked to the communication and component layer. While this ensures that the implementation model is based on existing national practices, it also makes it more difficult for eligible parties to understand how the reference model is implemented across the Union in the Member States, in particular with regard to the communication and component layer. This could lead to a barrier to entry for eligible parties who want to be active in other Member States. Therefore, a common repository of national practices should be established on how the reference model is implemented in the national practices of Member States and should be made publicly available. The publication of these reports is part of the transparent and non-discriminatory procedures introduced in this Regulation, because it will contribute to improving access to metering and consumption data across the EU by increasing awareness, providing clarity on applicable rules, and help lowering barriers for new market entrants. Moreover, it will also enable market participants identify and better understand similarities, differences and relationships between Member States’ national arrangements. Furthermore, it will also help share best practices between Member States and improve interoperability.

(15) To effectively ensure transparency of access to data procedures it would be necessary to collect the reports of national practices provided by Member States and make those reports available, at EU level, while at the same time assisting Member States in the reporting of national practices. In this regard, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (the ‘ENTSO for Electricity’) and the European Entity for Distribution System Operators (the ‘EU DSO entity’), would help ensure the transparency of access to data procedures within the EU, through their ongoing cooperative work and in the context of their tasks related to data management and data interoperability, pursuant to Article 30(1) points (g), and (k) and Article 55(1) points (d) and (e) of Regulation (EU) 2019/943 of the European Parliament and of the Council (7). This cooperation would be based on the existing responsibilities of the two bodies, namely the responsibility of the EU DSO entity to contribute to the digitalisation of distribution systems and to participate, in cooperation with relevant authorities and regulated entities, in the development of data management, as well as the responsibility of the ENTSO for Electricity to contribute to the establishment of interoperability requirements and non-discriminatory and transparent procedures for accessing data as provided for in Article 24 of Directive (EU) 2019/944 and Article 30 and 55 of Electricity Regulation (EU) 2019/943.

(16) Within the context of the procedures described in the reference model for metering and consumption data introduced in this Regulation and its Annex, eligible parties are receiving and processing data. Any processing of personal data under this implementing act, such as meter or connection point identification numbers, exchanged using the procedures set out in this implementing act will need to comply with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council (8), including but not limited to the processing and retention requirements in Article 5 (1) and 6 (1) of the aforementioned Regulation. Moreover, and given that smart meters qualify as terminal equipment, Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector, applies as well (9). Relevant eligible parties should accordingly comply with their obligations stemming from this Directive, including Article 5 (3).

(17) The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted in accordance with Article 42(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council (10) and delivered an opinion on 24 August 2022.

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

CHAPTER 1

Subject Matter and Definitions

Article 1

Subject matter

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this implementing Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:

(1) ‘reference model’ means the procedures that are necessary for access to data describing the minimum required information exchange between market participants;

(2) ‘metering and consumption data’ means meter readings of electricity consumption from the grid, or electricity fed into the grid, or consumption from on-site generation facilities which are connected to the grid, and includes validated historical data and non-validated near-real time data;

(3) ‘validated historical metering and consumption data’ means historical metering and consumption data collected from a meter, a conventional meter or a smart meter, or a smart metering system, or completed with substitute values that are determined otherwise in case of meter unavailability;

(4) ‘smart meter’ means an electronic metering device deployed within a smart metering system as defined in the Article 2(23) of the Directive (EU) 2019/944;

(5) ‘near real-time metering and consumption data’ means metering and consumption data provided continuously by a smart meter or a smart metering system in a short time period, usually down to seconds or up to the imbalance settlement period in the national market, which is non-validated and made available through a standardised interface or through remote access in line with Article 20(a) of the Electricity Directive (EU) 2019/944;

(6) ‘eligible party’ means an entity offering energy-related services to final customers, such as suppliers, transmission and distribution system operators, delegated operators and other third parties, aggregators, energy service companies, renewable energy communities, citizen energy communities and balancing service providers, as far as they offer energy related services to final customers;

(7) ‘metered data administrator’ means a party responsible for storing validated historical metering and consumption data and distributing these data to final customers and/or eligible parties;

(8) ‘permission’ means the authorisation given by a final customer for an eligible party on the basis of a contractual agreement they have with this party, to access their metering and consumption data managed by the metered data administrator for the provision of a specific service;

(9) ‘active permission’ means a permission that has not been revoked or expired;

(10) ‘permission administrator’ means a party responsible for administering a register of data access permissions for a set of metering points, making this information available to final customers and eligible parties in the sector, on request;

(11) ‘data access log’ means a timestamped record of data items accessed that includes at least the identification of the final customer or the eligible party accessing the data and, if applicable, the identification of the permission used to access the data;

(12) ‘metering point administrator’ means a party responsible for administering and making available the characteristics of a metering point, including the registrations of eligible parties and final customers linked to the metering point;

(13) ‘data access provider’ means a party responsible for facilitating access, including in cooperation with other parties, to validated historical metering and consumption data by the final customer or by eligible parties;

(14) ‘permission provision log’ means a timestamped record of when the permission for a an eligible party or final customer was granted, revoked, or terminated, including a permission identifier, and a party identifier;

(15) ‘identity service provider’ means a party that manages identity information; issues, stores, protects, keeps up to date, and manages identity information for a natural or legal person and provides authentication services to eligible parties and final customers;

(16) ‘authentication’ means an electronic procedure that enables the electronic identification of a natural or legal person;

(17) ‘meter operator’ means a party responsible for installing, maintaining, testing, and decommissioning physical meters;

(18) ‘near real-time data consumption system’ means a system or device that obtains the flow of non-validated near real-time data from a smart metering system as referred to in Article 20, first subparagraph, point (a) of Directive (EU) 2019/944.

CHAPTER 2

Interoperability Requirements and Transparent and Non-Discriminatory Procedures for Access to Data

Section 1

Interoperability requirements - Reference model

Article 3

Implementation of the reference model

In order to meet the interoperability requirements, electricity undertakings in the retail electricity market apply the reference model set out in this Chapter and in the Annex of this Regulation.

Article 4

Reference model and information on market organisation