Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Regulatory and Energy Assistance Project (REAP)

A key aspect of this process is the implementation of a metering system that can accurately measure electricity usage and identify market participants who cause imbalances and trigger a need for ancillary services. Metering requirements for market opening include the ability to measure quantity and time of use, with accuracy. Meters must be able to provide information on electricity usage at intervals, such as every 15 minutes, every hour, or in real-time. This information is essential for accurate customer billing and the implementation of different prices, such as peak, off-peak, and real-time pricing. For households and small commercial customers, load profiling can be done by extrapolating measurements from strategically placed meters. However, for other commercial and industrial customers, meters that measure quantity at intervals are necessary. The metering system must also be able to identify market participants who cause imbalances and trigger a need for ancillary services, so that costs can be allocated to those who cause the need for these services and benefit from them. This is essential for a competitive market, where customers should pay for all the services they use and only for those services they use. Inaccurate metering can result in the utility absorbing costs that actually belong to customers and vice versa. A Default Supplier Mechanism can be used as an interim solution between a fully regulated electricity prices system and a fully deregulated electricity prices system. This mechanism provides a safety net for customers in an opening market, allowing them to utilize Default Supplier service at prices that differ from the current regulated tariffs. The Default Supplier price is determined by the Default Supplier under strong regulatory monitoring function. The liberalization of the electricity market in BiH is driven by the principle that customers should pay for all the services they use and only for those services they use. The metering system and Default Supplier Mechanism are essential components of this process, enabling accurate customer billing and the allocation of costs to those who cause imbalances and trigger a need for ancillary services.