1. G20 OUTREACH ENERGY REGULATORS ROUND TABLE
Sergey Novikov
Head of the Federal Tariff Service
(FTS of Russia)
July 8, 2013
Saint Petersburg

2. FTS of RUSSIA G20 INVOLVEMENT
Since December last year the Russian Federation holds the Presidency of the Group of Twenty (G20). The G20 energy agenda in 2013 makes a particular emphasis on the issue of effective regulation as a means to promote energy infrastructure investments. The Russian G20 Presidency has asked the Federal Tariff Service of Russia to consult with G20 energy regulators, to perform substantive work for discussion of the regulatory issues in the frameworks of G20 activities and to organize the G20 Outreach Energy Regulators Round Table. The outcome of this event was envisaged as a Statement by Energy Regulators.

3. PRINCIPLES OF WORKING ON THE STATEMENT
FTS of Russia considered the “G8+ Energy Regulators Roundtable”, which took place in May 2009 in Rome, and its Statement as a very successful experience and aimed at building upon it and developed further regulatory principles and approaches in a consensual.
The following principles of working on the Statement were established:
Setting up the Program Committee responsible for drafting Statement and G20 Outreach Energy Regulators Round Table program development
Direct, open and broad consultations with all interested parties/experts in both on-line and off-line dialogues
Statement is not the document which can cover all possible problems, goals and solutions in energy area but it rather should be mainly focused on electricity, short enough and easily understood by all
Statement should be general enough to reflect important regulatory issues 3

4. STATEMENT PREPARATION AND ADOPTION
March, 15 – first draft Statement was sent to the Program Committee
April, 1 - circulation of an updated draft Statement among all G20+ Energy Regulators and other stakeholders
April, 25 – expert discussion of the draft Statement at the workshop by G20+ Energy Regulators (OECD premises, Paris)
May, 1- circulation of draft Statement updated on the basis of the results of the workshop among all G20+ Energy Regulators and other stakeholders
May, 24 - circulation of an updated draft Statement among all G20+ Energy Regulators and other stakeholders
June, 3-4– drafting, discussion and approval of the Statement at the G20 Outreach Energy Regulators Round Table (Kazan, Russia) 4

5. G20 OUTEACH ENERGY REGULATORS ROUND TABLE IN KAZAN
Participants:
National Energy Regulators / country’s authorized representatives from 10 countries (Argentina, Brazil, United Kingdom, Indonesia, China, Mexico, Russia, USA, South Africa, Turkey)
Agency for Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER)
7 associations (African Forum for Utility Regulators (AFUR), Association of Ibero- American Regulators (ARIAE), Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER), Energy Regulators Regional Association (ERRA), International Confederation of Energy Regulators (ICER), Association of the Mediterranean Regulators for Electricity and Gas (MEDREG), Regional Electricity Regulators’ Association of Southern Africa (RERA). Total number of countries – members in the above associations is 98
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Russian G20 Sherpa
The President of the Republic of Tatarstan
Government of the Republic of Tatarstan
Executive Office of the President of the Russian Federation 5

6. KAZAN STATEMENT HIGHTLIGHTS
The Statement recognises the major need for investments which are in the public interest, and the central role that energy regulators play in ensuring that efficient investments take place.
By way of this Statement, energy regulators agree it is important to: 
ensure independence of National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) including the following:
regulatory decisions made within the relevant national legal system should be open to challenge and overturned only by court or other legally recognized quasi-judicial body in accordance with the appropriate national legislation. Competition (antimonopoly) protection must be consistent with, and complementary to the ex ante regulatory process and decisions;
NRAs should have enough power and resources to resist industry and political pressure;
the NRAs should have exclusive right and responsibilities regarding the regulation of third party access to energy infrastructure, together with related issues;
regulatory tools should be proportionate, sufficient and adequate to meet current and future challenges and to ensure their mission can be accomplished in support of energy policy goals. 6

7. KAZAN STATEMENT HIGHTLIGHTS
(b) support the efficient development of the energy infrastructure needed to meet the challenge of sustainable development by:
taking into account investors’ requirements and needs in order to facilitate adequate economic and commercially viable investments to meet countries’ needs for energy infrastructure upgrades, modernization and development;
ensuring that the activities of NRAs are predictable, transparent and accountable in order to maintain a favorable climate for the necessary investments to be made and to enable investors to deploy new and best available technologies;
streamlining NRAs’ part of approval procedures relating to the construction of energy infrastructure and seek compatible regulatory approaches in order to enhance energy markets and ensure technological development;
providing, where appropriate, regulatory incentives to encourage investments and deployment of new energy infrastructure which are economically prudent, beneficial and minimize environmental impacts. 7

8. KAZAN STATEMENT HIGHTLIGHTS
(c) improve energy markets functioning by:
deeply involving regulators on a continuous basis in improving established and developing energy markets to meet future needs which should take into account the differences in market structure, capacity situation, cross-border trade possibilities as well as preparedness and qualification of market participants;
providing a level playing field for all market participants, including new entrants;
setting non-discriminatory, transparent and sound rules for access to essential facilities such as networks, and for their development and ensuring that tariff systems are fair, reasonable and consistent and supportive of necessary network development;
enforcing the operation of the rules;
encouraging transparency in market operation whilst enforcing the effective and independent monitoring of market functioning. 8

9. KAZAN STATEMENT HIGHTLIGHTS
(d) protecting public and consumers interests by:
regulatory measures, including those relating to infrastructure investments, which should be applied with careful consideration of their impact on current and future consumers including sufficient protection of captive and vulnerable customers whilst not hindering efficient network development;
providing a sound regulatory framework to enable resource adequacy through the deployment of new efficient, and cleaner generation facilities as well as through specific energy efficiency measures and demand side participation in the market;
investments, which will not only improve energy services and create new ones, but will also enable energy consumers to play a more active role in energy markets (which could assist them to mitigate their market risk and reduce their energy bills while supporting system flexibility);
energy infrastructure development also aimed at fulfilling consumer rights with regard to universal access to energy, including trough the specific targeting at increasing the electrification ratio in lagging regions and countries;
increasing the number of eligible market players by promoting adequate consumer awareness (education, information and assistance) to promote consumer choice thereby promoting the efficiency of energy market functioning where markets are still developing. 9

10. KAZAN STATEMENT HIGHTLIGHTS
(e) advance NRAs development through: 
improving regulatory capacity in particular through the establishment of effective smart information and analytical systems which enable regulators to process massive data flows as well as to make sound decisions based on rigorous analysis;
achieving professional excellence through targeted training and education;
making available, as appropriate, information and expert analysis in support of the energy and energy related policy decision making process. 10

11. KAZAN STATEMENT HIGHTLIGHTS
(f)  establish effective interaction among the relevant authorities by:
having clearly defined legal boundaries, roles and responsibilities of the energy regulators and other relevant oversight authorities (e.g. competition agencies, consumer and environmental protection bodies);
improving energy regulators’ cooperation with national competition, technical, consumer, environment, financial regulators and other relevant authorities to achieve comprehensive approach and synergy effect;
facilitating cooperation at regional and international levels including to facilitate trade flows, thus promoting the efficient use of resources and/or mitigating market distortions;
enabling and promoting institutional cooperation among NRAs in order to share experiences and good practices both regionally and internationally, in particular, by improving existing cooperation mechanisms (e.g. regional associations, World Forum of Energy Regulation, ICER, joint conferences and workshops, bilateral collaborations, initiatives for financing coordination of training as well as dedicated information exchange and education actions). 11

12. G20 OUTREACH ENERGY REGULATORS ROUND TABLE PROCEDURES
All participants attended the Round Table on equal terms and were given the floor
The Round Table deliberations were moderated by Mr. Valery Sorokin (FTS of Russia Public Council`s Member) and Mr. David Halldearn (Co- ordinator of ICER)
Round Table’s Co-moderators briefed the participants on the written comments received by the FTS of Russia National Energy Regulators which were not able to come to Kazan
The FTS of Russia was invited to present the Statement to all G20 Energy Regulators and relevant regulatory associations as well as to the appropriate G20 institutions in 2013 (ESWG Co-chairs and Russian G20 Sherpa). 12

13. CIRCULATION OF KAZAN REGULATORY STATEMENT
FTS of Russia has forwarded the Statement on Sound Regulation and Promoting Investments in Energy Infrastructure to:
Russian G20 Energy Sherpa
ESWG co-chairs
G20 Energy Regulators
Associations and stakeholders
The Kazan Statement has been made public by several institutions and could be found, among others, by the following links: 13

14. Thank you for your attention