The last Network Code enforcing the harmonised and transparent transmission tariff regulation of the European gas market was published in March 2017. This put an end to a nearly 10 year process, with the preparatory work of the first Network Codes starting in 2007. The Tariff Network Code (TAR NC) itself is also a sustained undertaking after first consultations regarding tariff formation started in 2011. The first version of the document was the ‘Framework Guidelines on rules regarding harmonised transmission tariff structures for gas’, published in 2013. It included the main changes and directions for the new regulation, allowing NRAs and TSOs to start to prepare for the regulation that finally came into force this past spring.
However, the finalization of the document was not easy. ENTSOG submitted the first version to ACER in 2014, and another version with significant changes was submitted in July 2015. The final network code includes a less restrictive framework on tariff calculation methodologies. The aim of the regulation is the same, but as it is presented in this paper, NRAs have more freedom to decide between the applied methodologies.