USAID Energy Policy Activity Fifth Quarterly Progress Report

The objectives are to achieve better coordination, management, and transparency at all levels of BiH's regulatory framework, a simplified energy policy environment, and targeted technical assistance to integrate BiH's energy sector into regional and EU markets. The EPA is divided into four components: Natural Gas Technical Assistance, Electricity Technical Assistance, Cross-cutting Assistance on EU Accession Requirements in the BiH Energy Sector, and Cross-Cutting Assistance and Activities in the Public Outreach. The Natural Gas Technical Assistance component focuses on creating the preconditions for and development of a BiH natural gas internal market, and its integration into the regional natural gas market. This includes addressing the design and adoption of regulatory and policy reforms, such as the unbundling of gas pipelines, open access regulation, and rules on licensing, tariffs, and customer switching. Significant events during the reporting period include the adoption of the Draft Law on South Natural Gas Interconnection by the FBiH Parliament's House of Representatives. The draft law aims to simplify the permitting process for the construction of this project, ensuring its timely and efficient commencement of operation. A public awareness campaign for the "South Natural Gas Interconnection" project was also organized, which informed the public about the project's importance for the security of supply and diversification of natural gas sources in BiH. The EPA continued providing assistance to the Federation Ministry of Energy Mining and Industry (FMERI) on preparing the Draft Law on Natural Gas South Interconnection for the FBiH Parliament legislative procedure. The EPA updated the text of the law in line with the comments received from the FBiH Ministry of Finance and developed accompanying explanations for the legislative procedure. The EPA also helped FMERI and BH-Gas in addressing the few remaining issues in the text of the law and prepared FMERI Minister's presentation of the law to the FBiH Government. The working group for the development of the FBiH Law on Natural Gas was officially established by FMERI, with the EPA providing technical assistance to the working group. The working group is tasked with the development of this law in line with the requirements stemming from the Third Energy Package. The EPA also organized two online workshops to present reports on methodologies for gas distribution and supply tariffs and general conditions of supply in FBiH and Brcko District and Amendments for RS. The EPA's progress is measured against the planned outputs, and the achieved outputs are compared to the planned outputs. The EPA has made significant progress in providing assistance to FMERI on preparing the Draft Law on Natural Gas South Interconnection and establishing a working group for the development of the FBiH Law on Natural Gas. The EPA has also organized public awareness campaigns and training for regulators and natural gas sector stakeholders.