with the code of good practices and of RTE Annual...load‐frequency capacities, remunerated at a...
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1 February 2015 Compliance with the code of good practices and Independence of RTE Annual Report 2014
Transcript of with the code of good practices and of RTE Annual...load‐frequency capacities, remunerated at a...
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February 2015
Compliance with the code of good practices and
Independence of RTE
Annual Report 2014
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INDEX
Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 4
1. Purpose and method of the report .............................................................................................. 4
2. A few key events in 2014 in connection with the code of good practices and the obligations
in terms of compliance ......................................................................................................................... 5
Independence of RTE ............................................................................................................................. 10
1. Independence and certification ................................................................................................. 11
1.1 Information systems ................................................................................................................. 11
1.2 Human Resources ..................................................................................................................... 15
1.3 RTE's Research and Development completely autonomous by the end of 2015: a redeployment
of means compliant with commitments ........................................................................................ 16
1.4 An autonomy in terms of virtually completed insurance contracts ......................................... 17
1.5 In 2014, the CRE approved all the contracts presented between RTE and the VUI ................. 18
1.6 The maintenance over time of the certification commitments ............................................... 18
2. Independence, management and governance............................................................................... 20
2.1 A constant steering of investments in 2014 in terms of orientations and projects
consistent with commitments ........................................................................................................ 20
2.2 Governance .............................................................................................................................. 22
2.3 Action of the compliance officer .............................................................................................. 25
Quality of consultation and of customer relations ................................................................................ 26
1. Consultation in CURTE ................................................................................................................ 26
1.1 Network Access Commission .................................................................................................... 27
1.2 Market Access Commission ...................................................................................................... 29
1.3 Interconnection Access Operating Commission ....................................................................... 30
1.4 Grid Prospects Commission ...................................................................................................... 31
2. Customer relations ......................................................................................................................... 31
2.1 The action taken following the customer satisfaction survey of 2013 .................................... 31
2.2 Customer claims: a function which is improving in response to the request from
customers during the customer survey of 2013 ............................................................................ 32
2.3 Service offers ............................................................................................................................ 35
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Non‐discrimination ‐ Transparency ‐ Confidentiality ....................................................................... 36
1. Fair treatment and non‐discrimination ................................................................................. 36
1.1 Fair treatment in the market tools ................................................................................ 36
1.2 Non‐discrimination in the services of RTE ..................................................................... 37
2. Transparency ........................................................................................................................... 38
3. Confidentiality ........................................................................................................................ 42
3.1 General provisions ................................................................................................................. 42
3.2 Monitoring of "confidentiality" incidents ............................................................................ 43
3.3 Employee movement ............................................................................................................ 45
General assessment for 2014 and recommendations ...................................................................... 47
2015 actions of the compliance officer .............................................................................................. 48
Appendix ............................................................................................................................................... 49
General remark: The purpose of the paragraphs in italics, replicated from the previous report, is to recall the background information already presented or the obligations of RTE under the Energy Code, in terms of compliance. They can be omitted by readers who are familiar with the activity of RTE and the obligations of transmission system operators in this area.
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Introduction
1. Purpose and method of the report
RTE Réseau de transport d’électricité is designated in Article L111‐40 of the French Energy Code as the Transmission System Operator of the public electricity transmission network in France.
In this respect, RTE must comply with all the rules and regulations applicable to operators of transmission networks defined by the Energy Code.
In particular, the articles concerning transmission network operators belonging to a vertically integrated undertaking (VIU) apply to RTE, a wholly‐owned subsidiary of Electricité de France. The purpose of these provisions is to maintain the independence of the transmission System Operator over time vis‐à‐vis the VIU. The Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) certified RTE in a decision of January 26, 2012: Therefore, in order to ensure the maintenance of this certification, RTE must comply with the commitments undertaken within the framework of this certification process and maintain the conditions of independence approved by the CRE.
Among the obligations imposed on RTE as an independent transmission operator, is the need to bring together "in a code of good practices approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission, the organisational measures taken in order to prevent the risk of discriminatory practice in relation to access to the network" (Article L111‐22). RTE must also have "a person in charge of ensuring [...] the compliance of its practices with the obligations of independence it is subject to the other companies belonging to the VIU", "to check the application [...] of the commitments contained in the code of good practices" and to establish "an annual report [...] which it addresses to the Energy Regulatory Commission" in this regard (Article L111‐34).
This document constitutes the report on compliance with the code of good practices for 2014 of
RTE's compliance officer.
Intended for the CRE, it can also be consulted on RTE's website, in the interests of transparency.
This report brings together and summarises the findings and the recommendations of RTE's compliance officer.
The findings come from a variety of sources:
The controls or audits performed by RTE's compliance officer or at his request, as well as those performed by the CRE;
The monitoring of the implementation of the action plans by RTE at the time of certification or following these controls and audits;
The observation by the compliance officer throughout the entire year of the company's activities and its relations with its customers;
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The meetings and exchanges of the compliance officer with RTE's managers and staff, the CRE, the customers as well as with the various interlocutors in other companies of the VIU.
2. A few RTE key events in 2014 in connection with the code of good practices and the obligations in terms of compliance
The respect by RTE of its obligations in the area of good practices and compliance cannot be assessed without mentioning the changes in the company's environment, and the expectations of its customers, public authorities and of all stakeholders regarding its activities. Similarly, the company's choices are likely to influence the way in which it takes its obligations into account.
As in previous years, some of RTE's key events of 2014 in relation to these obligations are worth highlighting, either because they illustrate RTE's actions and results with respect to its obligations of transparency, confidentiality and neutrality, or because they shed light on certain notable aspects of the implementation by the company of its obligations of independence, its code of good practices or the quality of its dialogue and its relationship with its customers.
The key events presented were largely the subject of an internal communication within the company, which also demonstrates RTE's commitment to ensuring that the company's missions, obligations and commitments remain present in the minds of its employees.
January 2014
Quality of consultation: On January 8, the NEBEF experiment (Block Exchange Notification of Demand Response mechanism) successfully switched to operational mode. A demand side management operator used its electricity demand reductions of 60 MWh on the electricity markets. Since then, new operators have contacted RTE. This new mechanism entered into force on December 18, 2013, after approval of the NEBEF experimental rules by the CRE. It allows all industrial consumers and other demand side management operators to directly or indirectly use their electricity demand reductions on the electricity market.
February 2014
RTE's independence in terms of R&D: A supercomputer was made available to the teams in charge of the iTesla European project. The purpose of this project, coordinated by RTE, is to propose advanced tools and methods to manage the security of the European transmission network. This is recognition of the importance of these works, as these powerful calculation tools are generally reserved for more fundamental research.
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March 2014
Independence and neutrality of RTE: RTE submitted its proposals to the French General Direction for Energy and Climate (DGEC), which had launched, in mid‐December 2013, a consultation on the evolution of renewable energy sources (RES) support mechanisms. This approach falls within the framework of the preparation of the French energy transition law. In its response, RTE advocated putting in place the conditions for a better integration of RES in the electrical system and in the electricity market, and offering more options to operators to use their generation.
April 2014
Fair treatment and non‐discrimination: A new Android application that allows to access the Cataliz catalogue via tablet is available. Once downloaded, it allows you ‐ including in off‐line mode ‐ to discover RTE's commercial offer, in particular the services proposed in the field of maintenance and training.
Fair treatment and non‐discrimination: The call for tenders launched by RTE on April 1, 2014 for the permanent provision of "rapid" and "complementary" operating reserves has achieved its objectives. Due to a relaxation of the conditions of participation (10 MW of capacity as compared to 50 MW previously and the redesign of products to satisfy safety needs), a new actor has been able to position itself, and the consumption curtailment capacities have increased up to 450 MW.
Quality of consultation: After a phase of consultation initiated in the first half of 2013 with the market players, RTE submitted to the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy and to the CRE its proposal of rules for the capacity mechanism which should be operational in 2016‐2017.
May 2014
Fair treatment and construction of the European electricity market: The extension of market coupling to the South‐West Europe region (SWE) was successfully launched on May 13, thereby allowing, for the first time, the implicit allocation of interconnection exchange capacities between France and the Iberian Peninsula for the day of May 14. Spain and Portugal have joined the market of the NWE region, operational since February. This system allows to ensure an optimal use of the interconnections between countries, on a vast area that stretches from Finland to Portugal, bringing together 17 European countries and representing 75% of the electricity consumption in Europe.
Independence and neutrality of RTE: The road map of the "Smart grids" project was presented by Dominique Maillard, chairman of RTE's executive board, to the President of the Republic, on May 7, 2014, in the presence of the Prime Minister and the ministers for industrial renewal and ecology. Following this presentation, on May 20, 2014, RTE published this road map on its website. The document proposes the implementation of 10 actions organised around 3 work priorities: to create a group, a label and a directory of actors by the end of 2014; to deploy on a large scale in 2017 (a region will be chosen in 2015 and will spearhead this deployment); to organise the long‐term strategy in 2020 to maximise the benefits of smart grids, double the turnover of this sector and render the export share sustainable.
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June 2014
Quality of customer relationship and transparency: A seminar dedicated to the capacity mechanism was held last June 11 at the National Centre for the Operation of the Electric System (CNES) in Saint‐Denis. The purpose of this meeting was to raise awareness among the actors concerned on the future mechanisms, by enabling them, in particular, to test its operation using education and interactive software (CLEM) developed by RTE. The 44 customers who were present took advantage of the opportunity to discuss several other topics (counting, data and billing, NEBEF, Flow‐Based, Cataliz, electronic billing, etc.).
Quality of customer relationship and transparency: On June 26, RTE brought together in Marseille 24 representatives of its customers with the aim of helping them to optimise their power subscribed via the TURPE 4 and encourage them to contemplate new market mechanisms. The participants showed a keen interest in the hourly/seasonal system or the consumption curtailment systems.
Quality of consultation: At the end of the qualification procedures, a dozen demand side management operators had signed agreements to participate in the NEBEF rules as demand side management operators and are likely to carry out NEBEFs in June. Two of them wish to develop consumption curtailment customer’s capacities.
July 2014
Fair treatment and non‐discrimination: Since July 1, any consumer can sell primary and secondary load‐frequency capacities, remunerated at a free price on the ancillary services market. Until now, these frequency/power system services were only provided by producers. A demand response operator has already obtained its certification by successfully mobilising a primary reserve of 2 MW in less than 30 seconds.
September 2014
Transparency: To accompany the energy transition, RTE has published a new overview of the regional electricity reports. This data, presented in all French regions, highlights the diversity of the territories in terms of electricity generation and consumption, and the projects undertaken to connect new renewable energy sources on the electrical network.
Transparency: The 2014 edition of RTE's Power System Adequacy Report sheds light on the parliamentary debates then in progress. In particular, it indicates a potential deterioration in the security of the electricity supply in France in winter, between 2015 and 2018, and proposes solutions to remedy this. The Report also emphasises the essential role of interconnections, the evolution of thermal facilities and the rapid deployment of renewable energies.
Fair treatment and non‐discrimination: CIRTÉUS, a new subsidiary of RTE, is to take over a number of services currently provided by RTE for the account of its customers, industrialists and actors in the electricity market. This creation firstly responds to RTE's desire to comply more strictly with the legal obligations ‐ Law of August 9, 2004 and 3rd European Energy Package ‐ which require that RTE carries out its activities in the competitive sector through a subsidiary. A number of services which are currently listed in RTE' catalogue of service offerings (Cataliz) are now provided by CIRTÉUS, while still being provided by RTE's teams through subcontracting.
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October 2014
RTE's independence in terms of image: Through an institutional advertising film, RTE highlights the intelligence of the electrical network at the service of the energy and economy of tomorrow. This advertising campaign is designed to explain the particular role of RTE and to recall its singularity. Deliberately educational and breaking with the conventional image of the electricity transmission network, the film shows the specific activity of RTE in a fun way.
RTE's independence in terms of R&D: The "Bestpaths" project which involves 39 European partners, including RTE, was launched in Rome on October 30. The aim of this project is to work on innovative solutions to enable the massive connection of renewable energies to the European electricity transmission network. Within this framework, RTE is particularly involved in the compatibility of the devices which will constitute the future DC networks, as well as the development of long‐distance, high‐voltage connections, with superconducting cables.
RTE's independence and compliance: The European Commission has published its report on the effectiveness of the so‐called "Independent Transmission Operator (ITO)" model provided for by the Directives of 2009 and that France has chosen in particular for RTE. Although some difficulties have been identified, this report is, on the whole, clearly positive on the way the different systems provided for by the Directives have operated to guarantee the independence of the TSO in the framework of the ITO model.
RTE's independence in terms of financial management: On October 8, 2014, RTE contracted a new bond loan of a total amount of 750 million Euros, including a tranche of 500 M€ for 10 years, contracted at the lowest rate ever achieved by RTE on a bond issue, and a tranche of 250 M€, the first bond issue of RTE with a 20‐year maturity.
November 2014
Quality of customer relations and transparency: On November 19, 2014, twenty or so representatives of RTE's customers were gathered for a presentation of the 2014 General Adequacy Report. RTE gave details on the context of the energy transition, as well as the possible ways to offset the deterioration in the security of the supply for France anticipated for the winters of 2015 and 2018.
Transparency: A new version of éCO2mix was presented for the first time at the Exhibition for Mayors and Local Authorities. This intelligent and educational application gives access to all French electricity data. Main new features: key figures to understand the energy transition, monthly analyses to provide useful insight into the electrical system and an integrated geolocation system to access your region's data more rapidly.
Transparency: The 2015 edition of the Ten‐Year Network Development Plan (TYNDP) was submitted for consultation accompanied by a full environmental assessment, carried out by a specialised firm. The Ten‐Year Development Plan also specifies the benefits for each project in terms of reception of renewable energies, lower losses on the networks, and lower CO2 emissions.
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December 2014
Fair treatment and non‐discrimination: RTE has established a contract for more than 1 700 MW of consumption curtailment capacities at the end of the call for tenders launched annually, which closed on December 3. Six companies were selected to make consumption curtailment capacities available for 2015. These calls for tenders, the terms of which are approved by the CRE, allow preparing the capacity mechanism. The growth of the consumption curtailment capacities and the dynamism of competition have enabled us to achieve this record volume.
Quality of consultation: The CRE approved a large majority of the rules proposed by RTE for the use of curtailment capacities, following a consultation phase conducted by RTE and completed by a formal consultation of the market players in November 2014.
RTE's independence and the information system: RTE has finally completed the migration of all its computer applications on its two data centres, thereby allowing it a fully autonomous operation of its information system.
These highlights, which only reflect a small portion of the work carried out by RTE, are nevertheless indicative of the great importance given to topics related to the code of good practices and compliance in RTE's daily activity: they will be put in perspective in the rest of the document.
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RTE's independence
The Energy Code defines1 and governs2 the independence of RTE as electricity transmission system operator (TSO) in France. In particular, this code governs the relations between RTE, the transmission system operator and EDF as a Vertically Integrated Undertaking and sole shareholder of RTE.
Accordingly [RTE]:
[Must] "act in full independence regarding the interests of other parties of the Vertically Integrated Undertaking (VIU) [i.e. EDF] performing an electricity production or supply [...] activity";
"[Must not] hold a direct or indirect participation in a subsidiary of the VIU [EDF] producing or supplying electricity [...]";
"[Must] not have a share of [its] capital held directly or indirectly by another subsidiary of the VIU carrying out an [electricity] production or supply activity;
"Operate, maintain and develop a transmission grid of which they are independent managers regarding the interests of the production or supply activities of the VIU".
The conditions under which this independence is exercised in various areas are explained in several of the articles of the code. The following might be mentioned:
The attributions and operation of its supervisory board and the certification of accounts (L111‐13 to L111‐15 and L111‐24 to L111‐28);
Obligations organizing the independence of managers (L111‐29 to L11‐33);
The obligations imposed on RTE to have independent information systems (L111‐16), to have exclusively all the human, material and financial resources needed for its mission (L111‐19 and 20) and to prevent any risk of confusion in terms of communication (L111‐21);
Strict supervision of the services provided by RTE to the VIU as well as of the commercial and financial agreements between RTE and the VIU (L111‐17 and L111‐18);
The powers and duties of the compliance officer (L111‐34 to L11‐38).
Respect for texts on the independence of the GRT can be observed through the certification process as established by the Energy Code on the one hand and through the principles, rules and operation of the general management of the company on the other hand.
1 In its Article L. 111‐11
2 In the following articles in the section "Rules for companies managing transmission grids belonging on
September 3, 2009 to a Vertically Integrated Undertaking".
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1. Independence and certification
By its decision of January 26, 2012, the Energy Regulatory Commission decided the certification of RTE linking this decision to:
compliance by RTE with commitments accompanying its application for certification,
and the implementation of additional measures requested by the CRE.
Some of these commitments or additional measures were issued with a deadline linked to implementation constraints: many should be met by the end of 2012, others in 2013, the more complex having to be implemented after the end of 2013.
In general, these commitments are permanent. While some are by nature definitive, others require constant monitoring to be maintained over time.
2014 was a pivotal year for two reasons, from the point of view of the verification of compliance with the commitments made at the time of the certification:
on the one hand, virtually all the initial commitments required actions to be taken by 2014, and the end of this year is therefore a key moment to check that these commitments have been met;
on the other hand, and in view of the foregoing, RTE is now entering a phase during which the company will have to ensure the lasting nature of its commitments.
In this respect, the compliance officer considered that it was desirable to supplement his own vision by an external audit, which analyses not only the progress of the actions carried out at the time of the certification, but also RTE's capacity to maintain all its commitments over the course of time.
This audit, entrusted after a call for tenders to a body specialising in the implementation and monitoring of internal control procedures in companies, was carried out during the autumn of 2014.
The following paragraphs describe the situation for achieving the commitments scheduled for – or postponed to – the end of 2014 as well as the progress of implementation of commitments requested for a later date. Finally they describe the maintenance over time of lasting commitments or obligations. They rely on the points identified by the audit and reported the main findings.
The paragraphs in italics in this chapter will indicate, where it appears necessary for the reader's proper understanding, each of the commitments and the progress such as presented in the 2013 report in order to put the actions carried out in 2014 into perspective.
1.1 Information systems
The independence of RTE's information system and of its sites will be complete in 2015
One of RTE's most iconic commitments for the independence of its information system was to withdraw from the "Data Centres" of the EDF group that hosted many of the company's servers. It should be noted, however, that they were, since the creation of RTE, physically separated from other EDF facilities and their access was controlled. RTE decided in late 2011 to acquire its own premises and independently operate its computing and data centres, necessary for its entire horizon of having its own information system by mid‐2015.
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The progress of the project observed at the end of 2014 shows that this commitment has been met within the time limits announced:
Two calculation and data centres located in RTE's premises have been technically operational since 2013.
The migration of applications hosted on the old site to the new centres, initiated late 2013 and continued throughout the year, was fully completed in December 2014.
It allowed obtaining a complete and autonomous operation of RTE's data centres at the end of 2014, in accordance with the commitments made during the certification.
Finally, RTE's hardware, now unused, located in EDF's data centres, will be removed early in 2015.
In addition, RTE wished to prepare for the adoption of the European regulation which will make it mandatory, for companies with more than 5,000 employees, to appoint a data protection officer who will reinforce the sanctions in case of a breach of the regulations. In this respect, a data protection correspondent more commonly known as the "Information and Freedoms Correspondent" (CIL) was proposed to the Information and Freedoms National Board (CNIL) by the Chairman of RTE's Executive Board at the end of 2014. This appointment strengthens RTE's independence in this respect to the extent where this correspondent becomes the direct interface between the CNIL and the company, without intermediation of the EDF Group as in the previous period.
RTE's independence in terms of telecommunications has been bolstered in 2014
With regard to radio frequencies previously granted to EDF and used for transmission grid management, RTE took over on December 31, 2013, in its own name, all authorisations to use the radio frequencies assigned to the company. RTE has also conducted the appropriate actions with respect to ARCEP (Electronic communications and postal regulatory authority) and ANFR (National frequencies agency) to obtain the necessary permissions for new links. Finally, the contracts for the provision of data transmission capacity between EDF and RTE were formally terminated in 2013.
Following the termination of the previous supply contracts, new contracts were established between ARTERIA (subsidiary of RTE) and EDF in the framework of an ARTERIA open service offer, allowing the provision of telecommunication link capacities between RTE's substations and the delivery points connected to the transmission network.
2014 also saw the completion of the RTE's disconnection from telecommunication contracts still supported by the EDF group and about to expire:
The wired telephone and special number services, mobile telephone services and the provision of the associated communication minutes were the subject of contracts established by RTE on the basis of independent calls for tenders in a competitive market.
Contracts for the supply and maintenance of operating switches allowing the referral of telephone calls were established by RTE with different equipment suppliers.
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In addition, the ranges of IP addresses used by RTE were part of the IP resources of the EDF group and were managed in this regard by an agreement allocating public or private addresses to the different entities and subsidiaries of the EDF group. The actions carried out by RTE on this point have been the following:
RTE performed the necessary steps with the RIPE (Réseaux IP Européens ‐ Network Coordination Centre) to become an autonomous entity to manage its assets in IP V4 and V6 addresses.
An agreement for the retrocession of EDF's IP V4 addresses to RTE is in preparation.
The total independence of the applications of the information systems is in the process of completion
From the outset, RTE chose a completely autonomous technical and business information system.
Since 2010, RTE has its own human resources information management system (HR‐IS), the last major step of a committed change, since its inception, to an information system independent of the parent company.
At the time of certification, there were still a few remaining attachments to EDF's HR IS realm with services like those related to the fields of health, safety or occupational medicine. A disengagement plan was established which is to be completed by the end of 2013.
For certain subjects, RTE has decided on an autonomous approach. This is the case for the replacement, on the one hand, of the tool used by the companies of the group in the framework of chemicals management and, on the other hand, the software enabling the monitoring of employees travelling abroad.
Therefore, during the first quarter of 2014, RTE proceeded with the "disconnection" of the two EDF applications concerned.
This is also the choice made for the replacement to be carried out in 2015 of the management tool for the allocation of housing to certain employees ("NSIL" software).
For other software, the information system is naturally intended to be shared by the undertakings of the electricity and gas industrial branch (EGI). In the previous period, EDF had replaced the branch, for reasons of size and history, to offer software used by all its companies. This was particularly the case of the software publishing jobs available in the branch (known as the "Job Exchange") or the software used by all the company physicians in the context of employee monitoring ("Horizon" software).
In its deliberation of November 12, 2014, the CRE acknowledged "RTE's commitment to respect a transitional period extended until the end of 2015 at the latest to allow for the disengagement of the "NSIL" and "Horizon" tools, which represent a very reduced perimeter as compared to the perimeter of the HR IS contract examined by the CRE when the certification was initially granted."
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"Job exchange" software (publication of job offers within the EGI branch)
This software owned by EDF, still used by RTE's employees, contains the same information as that which any EGI employee can find on the website of the secretariat of the EGI employer group. However, its use is more adapted to employees' needs: the job proposals are continuously updated and the application procedures are simplified.
In its deliberation of November 12, 2014, the CRE requested RTE to formalise and to send it the contract governing EDF's services for the benefit of RTE as regards the EGI job publication platform, and to specify to the CRE the commitments made concerning this service.
The contract to extend the use of this software for the years 2014 and 2015 was sent to the CRE for approval at the end of the year.
RTE met with the CRE in order to analyse the conditions necessary for a perennial use of this tool. In this respect, RTE requested and obtained the deletion of references to EDF's visual identity in this software. RTE also requested a modification of the site's URL address, in order to eliminate any reference to EDF. This change of address, more complex to perform, is still being examined.
In parallel, to better highlight the transverse nature of the service rendered for the companies of the EGI sector, RTE proposes approaching the General Secretariat of the EGI Employer Group in order to discuss the feasibility of the complete takeover of this service for the account of the sector.
Software for the medical monitoring of employees
For this software, the disengagement deadline has been reprogrammed for the end of 2015. The following actions are in progress:
Establishment of a contract aiming to compensate, for each EGI company and in proportion to the number of its employees monitored, the previous developments carried out by EDF;
Transfer by EDF of the software to the external editor chosen via a call for tender; Establishment of a user licence contract between each EGI company and the external editor.
The contract to extend the use of this software for the years 2014 and 2015 was sent to the CRE for approval at the end of the year.
Real estate management software
The NSIL real estate management tool of EDF origin and which manages the allocation of staff housing to certain employees for the account of the EGI companies (EDF SA, ERDF, RTE and GDF‐Suez) will be disconnected by the end of 2015 from RTE's pay management software.
As RTE had undertaken to notify the corresponding contracts to the CRE, in December 2014 it submitted to the CRE the contract concluded with EDF on the use of the NSIL application for the year 2014, with an optional renewal per quarter up to the end of 2015. For its financial part, the contract covers the share of the cost of maintenance of the application as well as a cost proportional to the number of contracts managed by RTE.
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The old software will be replaced by software chosen by RTE and whose adaptation to the context of the RTE's IS is in progress (interfacing with RTE's payroll system and the management system).
The project is now nearing completion: the developments, the successive acceptances and the phase of operation in "dual control" have helped to improve the data recovery process in the new application.
As regards the timetable, an implementation, excluding interfaces, was carried out in December 2014, in order to allow the disconnection during the 1st half of 2015, after the complete recovery of data.
The compliance of this software constitutes a significant part of the last commitments made by RTE during the certification and not yet met.
As in 2013, the compliance officer noted in this regard a difficult, slow and late mobilisation of all the actors (of RTE certainly, but also of the VUI or even other companies in the sector) to lead up to the advent of "sector" tools when this is the natural scope of use of the software concerned.
The compliance officer recommended that the actors of RTE concerned take stock of these subjects in 2015 in order to meet the schedule announced by the company.
1.2 Human Resources
Independent labour relations within the framework of the electricity and gas industries
In the field of human resources, RTE's management independence vis‐à‐vis the VIU was effective in 2014, as since 2011, for all issues concerning labour relations.
RTE contributed to branch negotiations and fielded them independently. The positions of the RTE management were governed by the motivations of the company itself (company transformation, changing of business, economic and financial balances) without the influence of choices made by the VIU.
According to the guidelines adopted in the framework of the certification and in each situation where a group agreement existed before the entry into force ‐ from 2011 ‐ of the provisions strengthening RTE's obligations of independence, the company has applied the following provisions:
RTE has no further action in the framework of these agreements within the monitoring systems implemented by the EDF group. It limits its participation to presenting, at the request of the social partners, its own actions. The company nevertheless continues with its own arrangements enabling it to independently respect the commitments it made to the company staff. It is in this spirit that RTE has carried out, since 2012, the actions referred to in the "DEFI Formation" group agreement signed in 2010, relating to training in the entire EDF group.
When the EDF group contemplated the evolution of an agreement signed prior to 2011, RTE recalled that the new group negotiation can no longer include RTE and proposed, where appropriate, the negotiation of a company‐level agreement. This approach was adopted in 2014 when the group signatories expressed their desire to redefine, by an amendment, the updated list of group companies which are party to the global agreement on Social and Environmental Responsibility (RSE) which the EDF group signed in 2005, then in 2009.
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Therefore, in 2014, RTE did not take part in any "group" action or negotiation. When the legal context or the regulatory so required, it conducted ‐ or proposed to initiate ‐ in parallel and independently of the VUI, a company‐level negotiation.
This aspect of RTE's obligations related to its independence can sometimes generate misunderstandings with the group's HR function, which would like to be able to share information on certain matters. It is also often misunderstood by the representatives of RTE's employees who may be members of staff representative bodies at group level. This lack of understanding, which has not had any consequences in terms of independence, has made it difficult to take these obligations into account on a relational level.
The compliance officer recommended in this respect that RTE's human resources division established a protocol with its EDF counterpart ‐ as was done in 2011 for communication ‐ in order to clearly fix, in a way understood by all the parties, the manner in which these obligations are taken into account and implemented.
With respect to the employee representatives, information actions which the compliance officer can take part in are to be contemplated.
RTE's independence in terms of means of training achieved in 2013 and respected in 2014
In accordance with the commitments made during the certification, RTE, which opened a new training centre in June 2013, now centres all its technical training courses in the Lyon region where a total of 7,500 persons are now welcomed each year, to maintain and develop their "business" skills.
The provisions recalled above, and which ensure the total independence of RTE in terms of training, were applied in 2014 without any deviations observed by the compliance officer.
1.3 RTE's Research and Development completely autonomous by the end of 2015: a redeployment of resources consistent with the commitments
As part of the certification process, RTE is committed to no longer renewing its contracts for studies and testing in research and development, services provided by EDF, by setting up a withdrawal project, allowing the studies and tests necessary for the company to be provided by other means.
With regard to research programmes, they are now carried out, on the one hand, using RTE's own means, as it has internalised in recent years the skills needed to achieve its objectives in the field, and on the other hand, through partnerships with European universities and research centres, and with the industrial sector.
A significant number of research programmes in partnerships were launched in 2014. Some, among the most significant, have been cited in the highlights of the year presented at the beginning of this report.
On all its research programmes, apart from the activity con
cerning the environmental aspects of submarine infrastructures for which the company is negotiating new partnerships, RTE should be above its target path, which should enable it to reach its objective of 108 M€ devoted to R&D over the entire TURPE 4 period.
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With respect to the testing of electrical equipment, RTE had carried out by EDF R&D, since its creation as a subsidiary, an annual programme of test services.
Transposing Directive 2009/72/EC, Article L. 111‐18 of the Energy Code which now prohibits "any services from companies which are part of the Vertically Integrated Undertaking in favour of the transmission grid company" thus imposing on RTE an obligation to entrust the performance of these services to a company not belonging to the VIU.
In this new context, the services requested from EDF R&D will be completed by late 2015, while the period running up to that date will be put to good use by RTE to find other testing service suppliers and to develop alternative digital methods to the traditional methods of physical testing.
Contractually, the 2014‐2015 period is therefore covered by a last amendment to the prior contract with EDF R&D relating to these last two years for an amount of 3.9 M€, of which 3.4 M€ for the nominal test programme, 200 k€ for optional services (to be exercised according to the results of tests) and 350 k€ in exceptional services, which can be mobilised for investigations in case of a failure on the network. The amendment only covers the tests which allow to terminate the investigations previously initiated.
A delay of nearly 3 M€ as compared to the forecasts on all the test activities carried out in 2014 is primarily due to a lesser performance of physical tests, with postponements to 2015 related to the time given over to negotiations and setting up contracts with new test laboratories, and the availability of these test laboratories.
The "SmartLab" approach whereby conventional tests are replaced by alternative methods (digital simulation of ageing phenomena affecting components, "big data" type analyses and the optimisation of asset management scenarios) is accelerating, with convincing results this year and new partnerships signed, in particular, with the CEA on the ageing studies. 2014 was devoted to a prototype and negotiation phase, with the most significant investments being programmed for 2015‐2016.
1.4 An autonomy in terms of virtually completed insurance contracts
In the area of Insurance, the disconnection from EDF continued in 2014, in particular with RTE taking out insurance in its own name, covering its general civil liability, civil liability for environmental damage and environmental liability.
The only ties which remained with EDF at the end of 2014 were:
the accession to the insurance programmes of the EDF Group for the corporate officer civil liability insurance policy which is about to expire and which will be replaced by an insurance policy taken out in RTE's own name after March 31, 2015;
an EDF Insurance service agreement which will be renewed for the period 2015‐2017 ‐ subject to the approval of the CRE ‐ but which will be reduced to only two services requiring specific expertise on the national status of EGIs (management of claims for physical injury and examination of EGI employees' borrower policies) as compared to 7 services in the previous 2012‐2014 agreement.
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1.5 In 2014, the CRE approved all the contracts presented between RTE and the VUI
In its report of September 2013 on "Compliance with the code of good practices and independence of network managers", the CRE requested "to continue the efforts to improve its internal operation in order to better ensure compliance with the time limits for submitting contracts and deadlines for meeting the commitments it has made"3.
For RTE's compliance officer, the dialogue relating to RTE becoming familiar with the exchanges which must be established with the CRE on these subjects improved in 2013 and in 2014.
A follow‐up of contracts and upcoming expiry dates is now performed and is the subject of an alert to the departments concerned.
To the knowledge of the compliance officer, the draft contracts between the GRT and the VUI have generally been sent by RTE to the CRE for approval, respecting the time limit of two months before entry into force. In a context where additional questioning from the CRE's services prior to the deliberation of the college of commissioners have gradually extended the time required for examination, RTE most often responds quickly to any requests in this regard.
However, some contracts relating to the extension of contracts about to expire have not been transmitted within the time limits. This is the case for the extended use for the years 2014 and 2015 of two software programmes of the EDF group mentioned above (the "job exchange" and "medical monitoring of employees" software).
On this point, the compliance officer recalled the request of the CRE recorded in the summary table of its 2014 report "RTE and EDF: main developments expected", i.e.: "To pay particular attention to the renewal of contracts that have already been the subject of an approval at the time the certification was granted by CRE or subsequently".
In this respect, the compliance officer recommends a strengthening of the measures taken so far and allowing the departments concerned to anticipate, through regular monitoring throughout the year, the difficulties in meeting the deadlines for the renewal of contracts.
1.6 The maintenance over time of the certification commitments
The purposes of the audit presented in the introduction to this chapter and performed at the request of the compliance officer was:
to ensure compliance with the commitments made by RTE prior to the CRE's certification decision;
to check that the additional requests made by the CRE in its certification deliberation have been taken into account and implemented;
to assess RTE's ability to ensure, in the long term, compliance with its obligations of independence set forth in Articles L111‐9 to L111‐38 of the Energy Code.
3 Expected development n° 6 of the table "RTE and EDF main developments expected" page 92 of the CRE's 2012 report on
"Compliance with the codes of good practices and independence of network managers" ‐ September 2013
19
Concerning the respect for commitments made prior to the certification decision and the verification that the additional requests of the CRE had been taken into account, the audit concluded that "the requests of the CRE which RTE has undertaken to reply to and which so far constitute commitments not yet definitively met are the following:
the finalisation of the transfer of RTE's data centres;
the disengagement of RTE vis‐à‐vis the R&D service provided by EDF;
the exit from the HR IS?".
This observation is in line with the state of progress of the actions carried out and presented in the preceding paragraphs.
With respect to the maintenance over the course of time of compliance with these obligations, the audit concluded that "the current organisation seems to allow RTE to efficiently handle the problems related to its independence, to share the information between the regions by the virtually systematic escalation of information to the operational departments".
In this regard, the audit makes two main recommendations:
the first is to "maintain the annual verification, during the review of the risk analysis and the determination of the major risks, to ensure that the risk of non‐compliance remains low and therefore that it is not to be included in the matrix of major risks.
The compliance officer requested RTE to take this recommendation into account as of 2015.
the second is to "examine, if the deviations observed show a weakening of the system, the appropriateness and relevance of:
‐ updating the Code of Good practices so that it emphasises the requirements and
obligations incumbent on RTE in terms of compliance and on the imperative need to maintain the awareness of the different actors of the company over the course of time;
‐ possibly, establishing a directive (based on the model of [RTE's] confidentiality directive) listing the main commitments and obligations related to the certification;
‐ the performance, by the Department concerned by these deviations, of a risk analysis in terms of compliance."
In view of the current situation now deemed satisfactory by the auditors, the compliance officer proposed to maintain a careful control of RTE's organisation on this point and will ask for this recommendation to be taken into account in the event where, as suggested by the audit, "the deviations observed showed a weakening of the system". Taking this recommendation into account in circumstances demonstrating its usefulness, would then allow it to reach its full effectiveness.
It should also be noted that the audit found that "the existence of a mapping of all the legal entities in the VUI likely to conclude contracts with RTE would constitute a tool which should allow the procurement agencies and RTE's other actors to ensure that all purchases made from the VUI have been properly identified, have been the subject of an analysis and have been approved by the CRE". It noted, however, that "the preparation and updating of such a mapping would not appear to fall under the competence or the responsibility of RTE".
20
The audit therefore recommended "an agreement with EDF concerning the preparation and updating of such a mapping ‐ under the aegis or not of the CRE" to "maintain the compliance of this type of obligation over the course of time".
The compliance officer proposed to examine the conditions of implementation of this recommendation in 2015.
2. Independence, management and governance
The provisions of the Energy Code very accurately govern all that concerns the principle of the independent management of the transmission system operator in terms of management and governance. The compliance officer, attending all the meetings of the company management and governing bodies, had the means throughout 2014 to observe the implementation of the rules guaranteeing the independence of RTE both in its everyday acts of management and in the construction of the major corporate decisions taken.
2.1 A constant steering of investments in 2014 in terms of orientations and projects in compliance with commitments
The RTE executive board maintained in 2014, with the approval of the CRE, a constant orientation which enabled the company's investments to rise from just over 800 M€ in 2008 (834 M€) to almost 1,400 M€ (1,373 M€) in 2014.
The objective of this willingness in favour of sustained investments, justified by the needs of its customers and by national or Community policies, is to proactively support the development of renewable energies and the evolution of the energy mix, the strengthening of interconnections, the needs of development and renewal of existing networks.
This orientation is maintained. The slowdown in the growth in value of investments planned for the period 2013‐2016 is due to a lesser growth in the demand of customers, due to the economic crisis in Europe, which has legitimately postponed certain projects and the increasing performance of the company's engineering, which reduces costs.
Concerning the meeting of the commitments made in the Ten‐Year Network Development Plan (SDDR) 2011 with a 3‐year horizon, in 2014 it is possible to present the following overview of the situation.
From the summary table, the following global observations can be made (excluding connection projects abandoned by the customer):
68 % of projects have been commissioned in the year planned.
83 % of projects planned in the commitments of the SDDR to be met within 3 years were indeed commissioned between 2012 and 2014.
96 % of the projects announced in 2011 to be commissioned in 2012 were finally commissioned between 2012 and 2014.
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... and commissioned in
2012
... and commissioned in
2013
... and commissioned in
2014
postponed to 2015
postponed to 2016
postponed to 2017
postponed to 2018
postponed to 2019
postponed to 2020
Connection projects
aban
doned at the customer's
request
total
Planned rate of commissioning
for the year
Rate of commissioning
betw
een 2012 and 2014
projects to be
commissioned in 2012* 43 9 3 1
1 57 75% 96%
projects to be
commissioned in 2013*
39 11 8 2 1
2 63 62% 79%
projects to be
commissioned in 2014*
1 27 10 2 2
1 1 44 64% 64%
total 43 49 41 19 4 3 0 0 1 4 164 68% 83%
* as results from the 2011 SDDR (or from the SDDR which shows the project for the first time, depending on the case)
This overview therefore shows a relatively low rate of postponed projects for reasons, with one exception, outside of the control of RTE. When a project is postponed, its postponement is generally for one or two years, and its commissioning takes place during the third year of the three‐year commitment. All the postponements have been traced and explained in the successive versions of the SDDR.
Finally, it should be noted that the 2015 investment programme presented this autumn to the CRE includes the financing of the 3‐year projects of the 2014 Ten‐Year Development Plan.
The changes which the CRE has been regularly informed of through various files following‐up the investment programme in the course of the year therefore derived from analyses carried out completely independently by RTE based on the sole criteria mentioned above: requests by customers and the company's ability to address these requests.
With respect to the verification of the proper performance of the 10‐year plan by the compliance officer (Article L111‐34), he will be able to certify that production complies with RTE commitments and that the information sent to the CRE for this purpose is transparent.
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2.2 Governance
Statutes
In 2014, the individual situations of RTE managers and those of five members of the supervisory board belonging to the minority satisfy the professional practice clauses4 and this situation has been transmitted to the CRE.
The situation of the compliance officer was also transmitted to the CRE.
Independence of statutory auditors
RTE requested and received the certificate of independence of one of the auditors for financial year 2014, for it to be forwarded to the CRE as was done in 20135.
Financial reporting to EDF
In 2011, CRE carried out an audit on the conditions governing financial reporting from RTE to EDF. The conclusions, of which RTE was informed in July 2012, indicate that the situation is entirely compliant on all points with what should prevail between an independent TSO and the VIU to which it belongs. However, the CRE had taken note of the advantage of setting up a written procedure to ensure the lasting nature of this system and the need to move forward in defining and filtering beneficial information.
The RTE management integrated this demand into the organisational note for the "Regulation, Tariffs, Financial path, Subsidiaries" department rewritten at the end of 2013. The procedure was transmitted to the CRE and has been active since the beginning of 20146.
Debt management
At the end of November 2014, RTE's long‐term debt amounted to € 8.814 billion, on which the debt towards EDF now only represents € 0.66 billion.
To date, the bond debt issued by RTE itself is € 7.3 billion (83%) and € 0.85 billion (10%) correspond
to funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB).
There is therefore a steady decrease in the share of RTE's debt towards EDF. Over the last three years from 2012 to 2014, the share of this debt evolved as follows:
4 Articles L111‐26, L111‐30 to L111‐33, L111‐38 of the Energy Code.
5 Expected development n° 2 of the table "RTE and EDF main developments expected" page 92 of the 2012 report on
"Compliance with the codes of good practices and independence of network managers" ‐ September 2013.
6 Expected development n° 3 of the table "RTE and EDF main developments expected" page 92 of the 2012 report on
"Compliance with the codes of good practices and independence of network managers" ‐ September 2013
23
Year
Share of RTE's long‐term debt
towards EDF in % of the total debt
2012 17%
2013 9%
2014 7%
Audit and internal control
In 2014, the compliance officer was given access to all the bodies and preparatory files dealing with this
subject at RTE. On this matter, he can testify to the attention paid by the company to compliance with the
rules of independence and non‐discrimination in management and control on an everyday basis.
Independently of his own audit programme, the compliance officer is consulted during the preparation of
the company annual internal audit programme. Therefore, the company's internal audits performed in
2014 included, when the subject so warranted, a particular attention to the issues of independence and
non‐discrimination.
With regard to the identification of major risks for RTE and the control actions initiated:
the risk identified in 2012 concerning "Discrimination / Confidentiality" was refocused in
2013 on its "Discrimination" component because of the positive points noted and
confirmed by the audit ordered by the compliance officer in 2012. The elements observed
in 2014 allowing to ensure the implementation and follow‐up of control actions are
presented in the chapter "Confidentiality" of this report.
The topic "Discrimination" is still included in the list of major risks for RTE. The audit carried out
in 2013 at the request of the compliance officer concerning respect for the obligations in terms
of non‐discrimination has enabled to assess this risk and to recommend measures to control it.
The elements observed in 2014 allowing to ensure the implementation and follow‐up of control
actions are presented in the chapter "Non‐discrimination" of this report.
The results of the audit performed on 2014 on RTE's ability to ensure over the course of time compliance
with its obligations and discussed previously show a control of this issue adapted to the challenges, and
therefore does not currently show this matter as carrying a major risk for the company. It is recalled that
the compliance officer recommends, however, following the recommendations of this audit, that the
control of all RTE's commitments in this regard is analysed each year by the company during the review of
the major risks.
24
Communication and public affairs
The implementation of the principles enshrined in the EDF ‐ RTE Convention of June 2011 did not cause any major difficulties in 2014.
The compliance officer noted, however, and reported to EDF on several occasions in 2014, deviations in the application of this convention. Certain documents disseminated by the national or regional entities of EDF and certain public communications to the general public or stakeholders still present RTE's actions among the activities of the entire group.
These documents, which wish to demonstrate the diversity of the group, could suggest that synergies, or even dependencies still exist between RTE's activities and those of the other parties of the VUI, contrary to compliance with the texts and with RTE's practice.
This situation shows the importance not only of the training to be provided to RTE's managers, but also the necessary awareness of the actors of the entire EDF group on this matter. In this respect, the compliance officer presented in the middle of 2014, to all the regional delegates of the EDF group, the elements of the Energy Code which govern their action in terms of communication and recalled the provisions of the 2011 convention between EDF and RTE.
However, a deviation found at the end of 2014, and which can be attributed to a newly appointed regional manager of EDF, shows that RTE must remain attentive and permanently maintain its actions to raise awareness on this issue.
With respect to the area of public affairs, RTE knows how to assert its specific point of view on major national issues as grid manager. This was the case, for example, in 2014, as in 2013, during the debate on energy transition initiated by the government. RTE had developed a neutral and independent viewpoint of the interests of various electricity market players, based on its skills and expertise as a key player in the French and European electrical system.
The compliance officer, during the presentation referred to above, reminded the regional delegates of the EDF group that they could not claim to represent RTE before any authority whatsoever (elected or administration) or stakeholder. Here again, RTE must maintain its actions to raise awareness over the long term.
The fact remains that the actions to raise awareness of the EDF regional delegates initiated by RTE's compliance officer would gain in efficiency by being taken over by EDF for its own account, as suggested by the CRE in its 2013‐2014 report.
The controls in the regions carried out by the compliance officer in 2014 ("Nantes" and "Lille" regions), show that the RTE managers remain extremely attentive to identifying any deviation on this point and strive to maintain a clear differentiation between the positions of the group and that of the network manager.
The new organisation of RTE in place since late 2013, which clarifies the responsibilities of representation outside of the company by entrusting them to RTE's Regional Delegate should allow the matter to progress.
The compliance officer recommends, following the recommendations of the audit mentioned above, that the role of Regional Delegate as guarantor of RTE's independence at a regional level is asserted.
25
2.3 Action of the compliance officer
2014 will be the third full financial year during which the compliance control instituted in July 2011 has been applied. Access to all information required is fluid, participation in all governing bodies (supervisory board, executive board, executive committee, management committee, specialized governance and working bodies, etc.) is in place, with documentation and files identical to those available to the other participants.
More generally, with regard to the perception RTE's employees have of the function, they continue to positively identify it, and the members of the management generally spontaneously inform the compliance officer of the compliance of events in relation to his mission. The compliance officer has not noted any lassitude among employees vis‐à‐vis the interventions and requests of the compliance officer. They are not reluctant to answer the questions put to them and to document the responses, even when they are followed by additional investigations in terms of control of compliance.
As in 2012 and 2013, the possibility open to the compliance officer of engaging outside resources in 2014 has not met with any kind of restriction.
26
Quality of consultation and customer relations
To a great extent, the quality of the implementation of commitments under RTE’s good practice code is assessed in two types of situations:
Consultation, dialogue with all the stakeholders prior to setting up provisions (rules, contracts, etc.) linking RTE to its various customer categories,
Customer relations, one‐to‐one and permanent dialogue with every single customer.
1. Consultation in CURTE
The Comité des Clients Utilisateurs du Réseau de Transport d’Electricité (CURTE ‐ the Electricity Transmission Grid User Customer Committee) is the main consultancy body for the construction of the electricity market and the changing electricity transmission grid in France. It is open to the various transmission grid users: producers, distributors, industrial customers, traders, consumers, aggregators, non‐government organisations (especially those dedicated to defending the environment), public bodies (whether they are institutional actors like ADEME or state services). The CRE services follow the meetings as they see fit.
The CURTE holds a plenary committee which tackles the most important issues, and four working commissions: "Grid access", "Market access", "Operation of interconnection access" and "Grid perspectives". Working groups deal with specific subjects, indifferently moderated by RTE or by other participants, according to the commitments and resources that the various parties are able to devote to them.
In this way, the CURTE makes a very significant contribution to non‐discrimination and the transparency of RTE actions in setting up and developing the market architecture.
The compliance officer noted a sustained activity of the different working committees throughout 2014.
The CURTE activities in 2014 have generally enabled:
Constant information on the files in progress as well as on developments in the context of the areas addressed by the committees;
Transparent consultation procedures, more attentive to the time limits for responses from the participants, as was their wish.
The rest of this chapter also recalls the richness and diversity of the topics covered in consultation in 2014.
27
1.1 Network Access Commission
The Commission d'Accès au Réseau (CAR – Grid Access Commission) deals with various subjects related to Grid Connection and Access for different types of customers. It is used to prepare the Documentation Technique de Référence (DTR ‐ Reference Technical Documentation).
The following tables, which provide details of the work schedule for 2014, show both the importance
and the number of topics covered.
Topics of the "producers" area covered in 2014:
Topics of the "distributors and consumers" area covered in 2014:
28
Finally, the transverse topics covered in 2014:
This schedule illustrates, for all the subjects covered over the year, the sequence of three phases, which are the consultation itself, the phase of consultation on the draft document from the initial consultation and the phase of referral or information to the CRE, depending on whether or not it has to deliberate on the project. In 2014, as in 2013, a significant part of the activity concerned:
The evolution of some fields of the technical relations, described in the contractual framework or in the Reference Technical Documentation (DTR), between the producers and RTE during their connection or during lasting operation after connection,
The taking into consideration of technical and contractual relations with distributors, a spinoff of setting up the Schémas Régionaux de Raccordement au Réseau des Energies Renouvelables (S3REnR ‐ Regional Connection Plans to Renewable Energies Grid),
Regular information about the amount of progress made with European grid code projects for which European procedures, including a public consulting phase, are underway.
It should be noted, in particular, the completion within this framework of a significant part of the plan of action following the CRE audit concerning the harmonisation of performance commitments historically requested from the production facilities of the EDF Group (RCOP) and those requested from new facilities7. The plan of action of this harmonisation included two essential aspects:
7 Expected development n° 5 of the table “RTE and EDF: main developments expected" page 92 of the 2012 report on
“Compliance with the code of good practices and independence of network managers” – September 2013
29
The revision of the DTR, with respect to the framework of the operating and conduct convention taking into account all the recommendations, was placed in consultation after initial concertation within the CAR. The consultation of this new framework of the DTR was completed late November and the new document was published in the DTR on December 22, 2014
The project modified by taking into account the requests of the CRE was sent to EDF in December 2014, and the RCOP signed in January 2015.
The forward work programme for 2015 was commented on in the Network Access Commission and published, thus giving transparency on the subjects to be handled by the Commission.
1.2 Market Access Commission
The Commission Accès au Marché (CAM ‐ Market Access Commission) is responsible for monitoring the files concerning the following themes:
Access to the market via the Responsable d’Equilibre (RE – Balance Responsible) mechanism and the Notifications d'Echanges de Blocs (NEB ‐ Block Exchange Notifications),
Determination and reconciliation of power flows
Access to and participation in the Balancing Mechanism. Programming of generation and consumption curtailments
Organisation of market, new mechanisms and interaction between the existing ones.
The CAM discusses orientations for different activities, determines the roadmap for the working groups and when necessary, steers the implementation of the discussions results by establishing draft rules which it proposes to the CRE.
The 2014 work schedule of the CAM is provided below.
30‐d
éc06‐jan
v13‐jan
v20‐jan
v27‐jan
v03‐fév
r10‐fév
r17‐fév
r24‐fév
r03‐m
ars
10‐m
ars
17‐m
ars
24‐m
ars
31‐m
ars
07‐a
vr14‐a
vr21‐a
vr28‐a
vr05‐m
ai12‐m
ai19‐m
ai26‐m
ai02‐juin
09‐juin
16‐juin
23‐juin
30‐juin
07‐juil
14‐juil
21‐ juil
28‐juil
04‐a
oût
11‐ a
oût
18‐a
oût
25‐a
oût
01‐s
ept
08‐s
ept
15‐s
ept
22‐s
ept
29‐s
ept
06‐o
ct13‐o
ct20‐o
ct27‐o
ct03‐n
ov
10‐n
ov
17‐n
ov
24‐n
ov
01‐d
éc08‐d
éc15‐d
éc22‐ d
éc29‐d
écMécanisme de capacité(*) CSE CRE CSE
Cahier des charges de qualification des données
GRD
Acteurs de marché
NEBEF Règles pérennes CRE CRE
Contrôle du réalisé
Règles MA‐RE
Services Systèmes
Réserves Rapides et Complémentaires
AO Effacement pour 2015
Bretagne
Règles expérimentales
Appel d'offres
Interruptibilité
Contrats amont
Discussions institutionnel les Appel à contribution Saisine/Instruction CRE
Concertation Consultation Appel d'offres
Décembre
2014
Juin Juillet Août Septembre Octobre NovembreJanvier Février Mars Avril Mai
30
The activity of the CAM in 2014 was, as in 2013, largely organised around the ongoing transformation of the market mechanisms which are the rules of the RE‐MA‐rules ‐ programming ‐ NEB, system service rules, rules concerning consumption curtailment at the service of the markets and the rules of the capacity mechanism.
In the same way as the CAR, the CAM also proposed regular information on the status of the European grid code projects for which European procedures are underway.
The work of the CAM, and in particular that concerning the consultation on the capacity mechanism rules, were the subject of a detailed presentation in last year's report. Without listing this year the details of the work, the notable events mentioned earlier in the report, in particular as regards the rules concerning consumption curtailment and the capacity mechanism, demonstrate the sustained pace and the importance of the steps taken in 2014 within the framework of this transformation.
The significant number of plenary meetings and themed meetings proposed and the high attendance of many participants in these meetings have shown throughout 2014 that the Market Access Commission appears to fulfil within the CURTE, in a recognised and effective manner, its role as a consultation body to deal with these economically essential and sensitive issues for the actors concerned.
1.3 Interconnection Access Operating Commission
The Commission de Fonctionnement de l'Accès aux Interconnexions (CFAI ‐ the Interconnection Access Operating Commission) monitors the rules of access to the French public transmission grid on matters concerning imports and exports and specific mechanisms concerning each interconnection and the harmonisation project for the Central West Europe zone; it offers actors an opportunity to express themselves regarding the rules and to participate in defining changes.
The CFAI met three times in 2014. This year, the EPEXSPOT stock exchange was invited to participate in these meetings alongside customers.
In these meetings, the discussions mainly focused on the different European projects underway: schedules, constraints encountered, feedback from the consultation of actors. The presentations made during these meetings are available on the space dedicated by RTE to concertation: https://concerte.fr/
The main topics discussed this year were the following:
the implementation of European coupling projects (South West Europe, North West Europe regions) with regard to the deployments of 2014 as well to future developments;
the coupling of Flow‐Based markets in the Centre West Europe region (it should be noted in this regard that the actors appreciated the initiative of RTE and of EPEXSPOT to develop e‐learning modules corresponding to a real need of the actors of the market);
the other ongoing and future studies or projects: the pilot study on the price areas provided for in the "Capacity Allocation and Congestion Management" network code, the TERRE project, the implementation of 30‐minute intra‐daily products on the France‐Switzerland and France‐Germany interconnections, the implicit continuous intra‐daily coupling project on the NWE area and the calculation of the coordinated capacity on the Italian borders;
31
information to the actors on the different related topics: the presentation of interconnection projects within the framework of the "European Ten‐Year Development Plan (TYNDP)", the publication of data on RTE's website, the consultation on the calculation of capacity within the framework of the coupling of markets on the Italian borders, the organisation of the consultation on the contractual framework of new derogatory interconnections.
1.4 Grid Prospects Commission
The Commission Perspectives du Réseau (CPR ‐ Grid Perspectives Commission) began its activities at the prompting of RTE in 2011 with the ambition of being the privileged consultancy body with civil society players about the medium and long term stakes of the electrical power system. That is the reason why this commission now deals with environmental associations (FNE; Greenpeace), public institutions proficient in the field of energy (DGEC, DATAR, CGDD), consumption curtailment aggregators (Energy Pool) and linear infrastructure managers (GRT gaz and GRDF).
Strongly structured around the theme of energy transition, more than six meetings of the Commission in 2014 have enabled to address a number of topical issues:
The evolution of the energy mix in France and in Europe until 2030,
Smart grids,
The storage potentialities,
The integration of renewable energies and flexibility,
The scenarios of other actors,
The publications on transparency data,
The security of supply in the short and medium term.
In total, more than thirty companies, associations, NGOs, experts and institutions have been represented in the meetings of this body.
These works have also enabled to consult collectively, listening carefully to the ideas of each one, a large panel of actors and experts on two key forward‐looking tools: the 2014 forecast overview published by RTE in September, and the ten‐year network development plan, published in November.
2. Customer relations
RTE is an electricity market service company. Accordingly, it is responsible for the permanent nature and quality of the link it maintains with players in the sector who are customers of this service. To accomplish this, the heart of the commitments at RTE is the attention paid to customer relations.
2.1 The action taken following the customer satisfaction survey of 2013
A customer survey in the spring of 2013, among 1,870 contacts (with a 51% response factor covering two thirds of the 470 customer enterprises) showed a steep increase in customer expectations regarding the quality and content of these services offered.
32
More specifically, this survey showed an improved company image, a stable satisfaction vis‐à‐vis RTE, but also a change of priorities among customers who are now more aware of criteria behind the service offer than the criteria which evaluate simply the contractual relations.
In addition to the actions undertaken in 2013 and recalled in the previous good practices report, several actions can be noted in 2014 ‐ some of which are presented in this report ‐ focusing on the quality of the service rendered to customers:
In terms of internal organisation: taking better account of customers' needs and expectations to enrich and adjust the service offer (establishment at the end of 2014 of an organisation to examine the feasibility of the service developments);
In terms of measurement and improvement of the quality of services rendered: reduction in time limits (for example, the provision of metering data) or constraints (for example, proposal to reduce in the future to 3 days over 3 years the number of days of demobilisation for works);
In terms of new developments in the quality of service: the undertaking of projects on new services (dematerialisation of the customer interface, digitalisation of the counting chain and data);
In terms of communication and customer events enabling accessible and fluid information and support on the offers: 54 customer events, 2 interconnection training seminars, 3 sessions using educational and interactive software ("serious game") on the market mechanisms;
In terms of training and raising the awareness of employees: the organisation of a customer markets convention bringing together 280 employees representing all the business lines contributing to customer satisfaction to exchange on the contribution of each to the quality of the service rendered (time, quality, choice and cost of implementation).
2.2 Customer claims: a function which is improving in response to the request from customers during the 2013 customer survey
From the customer survey performed in 2013, the overall vision that RTE's customers have of the processing of their claims by the company shows:
The satisfaction marks were low in this area, as they were in previous surveys.
o Speed of processing: 6.2. (For the dissatisfied, the desired deadline is 7 days) o Quality of processing: 6.4 a clear improvement (5.5 in 2010)
The expression of RTE customers reveals that claim processing could be improved by:
o systematically acknowledging reception and o by having regular contacts between the issuing of the claim and the response given by RTE.
The rules established in the Code of Good practices concerning claim processing are the following:
The system set up by RTE to address claims is open to everybody and to all users, without any discrimination:
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The customer who wants to make a claim sends it to his customer relations contact. Within no more than 10 days, this contact acknowledges receipt of the claim. A final answer is sent by the customer relations contact within a maximum of 30 days after receipt of the claim by RTE. When the claim raises a problem requiring examination taking more than 30 days, a letter is sent to the customer telling him why this turnaround time is being exceeded.
In‐house directives organize the procedure for processing claims and there are indicators to ensure that the response lead time is not overrun."
RTE provides market players with a system for processing claims on its institutional website.
Status of claims at the end of 2014
The status of claims is now monitored by software which allows to track customer claims, the time limit and content of the replies given. An indicator for monitoring compliance with the time limits for processing claims has been set up and is followed‐up every month.
10‐day time limit
At the end of December 2014, 122 claims had been declared. 106 were processed complying with the 10‐day time limit, i.e. 87%. This follow‐up was put in place following the CRE audit of this issue in 2013. The entry into force of the monthly indicator for monitoring compliance with the requirement to issue an acknowledgement of receipt within 10 days has been effective since September 2014. Out of the 28 claims declared between September and December, 26 were processed respecting the 10‐day time limit, i.e. a 93% improvement.
Response within 30 days
Out of the 122 claims, at the end of December 110 had been processed complying with the 30‐day time limit, i.e. 90%.
There appears to be a sharp increase in the number of claims: 122 at the end of 2014, as compared to 82 for 2013, i.e. an increase of 49%. At least a part of this increase is due to a "revelation effect" linked to the deployment in 2014 of a new tool for controlling the commercial activity (CARMEN) which now exhaustively tracks all claims.
With respect to the quality of the service rendered, the commitment to respond to a customer claim within 30 days is met in 90% of cases. This result is an improvement compared to 2013 (78%).
With a 30‐day response time commitment met at 90%, the result obtained has the same average level observed over the period 2009‐2012: it can legitimately be considered that RTE has listened to the warning sent by the customers during the 2013 survey and has rectified the situation. However, it should be further improved to entirely meet the commitment made in the Code of Good practices.
The analysis of claims by customer type shows a relative stability in the distribution of customers according to this criterion between 2013 and 2014.
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The analysis by service type is now more complete than in previous years, as it distinguishes between the different activities carried out within the framework of services performed in a competitive context (PC) , the activities carried out within the framework of service activities for the management of the electrical system (EXP), services related to access to the grid (ART), connection services (RAC), ancillary services (PA), services related to the markets (MAR), services related to interconnections (INT) and to engineering (ING).
The dispersion of the number of customer claims is mainly due to the very variable number of commercial acts carried out by type of service. However, it can be noted that the bulk of claims relates to the most fundamental and therefore the most frequently used services, which are those related to access to the grid.
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2.3 Service offers
To ensure that customers have the most transparent access possible to an offer which provides optimal assurance in terms of fair treatment and transparency, at the time of its certification, RTE had made a commitment to better structure and render more legible its service offer.
This prompted RTE to issue a catalogue at the very beginning of 2013 under the name "CATALIZ", presenting its service offer to its customers in a simple, concrete and winning manner. The catalogue which is supposed to be the "Way In" to the RTE services offer is also a major tool for appropriating all its contractual and commercial services.
This open ended catalogue is now available in three formats: (www.RTE‐cataliz.com), and an iOS application (Ipad) and a hardcopy version.
Within this framework, RTE wished to strictly comply with the legal obligations (Law of August 9, 2004 and 3rd European Package) which require RTE to exercise its competitive activities through a subsidiary, and also to closely follow the recommendations of the Competition Council (Conseil de la Concurrence) (Notice N°94‐A‐15 of May 10, 1994 relating to the problems raised by the diversification of the activities of EDF and of GDF), the main policy of which was to create subsidiaries to handle the competitive activities of companies holding a monopoly.
In 2014, RTE therefore created CIRTÉUS, a subsidiary responsible for developing and proposing to its customers ‐ industrialists and actors of the electricity market ‐ services, studies, advice and training in the areas of the maintenance, operation and development of their high and very‐high voltage facilities and the related monitoring and control.
The purpose of the subsidiary will be to handle the commercial aspects of services in the competitive area which currently appear in the "CATALIZ" catalogue, prepared in compliance with the third directive.
By defining a separate legal entity to exercise its activities in the competitive area, RTE has equipped itself with the means to further strengthen the control of its actions in this area, and particularly to enable a better control of the risk of any cross‐subsidy.
In this regard, this development is likely to strengthen the provisions put in place to ensure the compliance of the company's commitments.
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Non‐discrimination ‐ Transparency ‐ Confidentiality
The audits and controls in 2013, performed by the compliance officer or at his request, mainly focused on compliance with RTE's obligations in terms of fair treatment and non‐discrimination. The actions taken following the recommendations made in these audits, as well as the finding reported in the 2013 report, are provided in the part of the document devoted to this issue.
1. Fair treatment and non‐discrimination
1.1 Fair treatment in market tools
The monitoring carried out in 2013 had focused on compliance with the obligations of fair treatment in the implementation of the balancing mechanism (BM).
The matter of applying the rules of economic precedence by RTE in the activating of the chosen offers is a central issue with significant economic implications for the balancing mechanism participants. In addition to proposing prices, this process of selection associates a number of relatively complex technical criteria for implementing the offer (implementation starting time, duration, location, etc.).
Since its setting up, the balancing mechanism has often led to requests for explanation by actors for the offers not retained at RTE to justify the absence of any discrimination in the choices made.
The compliance officer had considered that the means used, and the results obtained, were liable to ensure compliance with transparency and non‐discrimination of the BM operational implementation activity with a high level of confidence.
In this context, the compliance officer however suggested contemplating a form and a frequency to be decided on for the use of such information to provide feedback to each player concerned and keep ahead of any requests for explanations.
Following this audit, a plan of action was defined by RTE. It is in the process of being prepared, and
responds to the recommendations of the audit. The main actions identified concern:
‐ the evolution of operational procedures on the basis of deviations in the past;
‐ the formalisation of the doctrine concerning management of the economic precedence in an
uncertain future for RTE operators and for market actors to reach a common understanding,
consistent with operational decision‐making;
‐ the formalisation of feedback from actors on the application of the economic precedence;
‐ the adaptation of tools accordingly.
Similarly, as concerns information sessions organised to give BM players a good understanding of the offer activation process, it has been suggested that this action be renewed at a rhythm and for categories of players to be determined, depending upon the reoccurrence of requests for explanations by them.
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This recommendation was extended in 2014 to the broader theme of information to actors on all
the market tools. In particular, as reported in the notable events at the beginning of this report, a
seminar dedicated to the capacity mechanism was organised last June 11 at the National Centre
for the Operation of the Electric System (CNES) in Saint‐Denis. The purpose of this session was to
raise awareness among the actors concerned in the future mechanism, allowing them, in
particular, to test its operation.
1.2 Non‐discrimination in the services of RTE
RTE has restructured all the services it intends to propose to grid users and since 2013, has presented them in the catalogue already mentioned, called CATALIZ, following up its commitment made during certification and the provisions of Article L.111‐18 of the Energy Code, when these services were previously offered to the sole VIU.
The purpose of this action, by presenting the offer with total transparency, is to underline RTE's determination to satisfy requests for identical services, whoever the requesting customer may be. The compliance officer considered that it might be desirable to check whether the implemented actions effectively ensure complete non‐discrimination in the provision of the services, and had an audit carried out at the end of 2013 for this purpose.
The main findings and recommendations of the audit are as follows:
It seems that the organisation in place is sufficient to obtain this equal treatment, considering the current volume of services. It is based on identical contractual treatment of all customers, operation which is centralized around key players in the different professions in charge of the services, to guarantee consistency in technical realization, with steering and exacting tracking demands placed on commitments to customers.
For most of the recommendations made, the goal is to ensure that the organisation set up is long‐lasting, and robust with respect to activity growth. Accordingly, it was proposed to confirm the working methods developed in 2013, formally accepting the requirements for ensuring non‐discrimination and, naturally, keeping the CATALIZ catalogue up‐to‐date.
As previously mentioned, in 2014 RTE created a subsidiary, CIRTÉUS, responsible for handling the commercial aspects of services in the competitive area which currently appear in the "CATALIZ" catalogue. It is in this new context that RTE has taken the recommendations of the audit into account.
With respect to the formalisation of a specific framework for the exercise of services of the
competitive area, RTE has defined, in order to organise its relations with CIRTÉUS:
An organisational note on the management of services, which describes the roles and responsibilities within RTE for the performance of services in the competitive area,
The note defining the procedures for the pricing of RTE's services to its subsidiary, and which organises compliance with the non‐discrimination obligations,
Contracts for the provision of RTE's services to CIRTÉUS, still in draft form, which will manage the technical (activities performed, etc.), legal (responsibilities, etc.) and financial aspects for the different types of services provided by RTE to its subsidiary.
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2. Transparency
RTE's approach to transparency since creation was initially focused on the provision of national grid information in which the electrical system was considered as part of the electricity market. Although there was no challenging of the need for transparent national information, there is a strong change in the actual stakes of transparency:
‐ The European Transparency regulations (to enter into effect in 2015) and REMIT (the European regulation on transparency and integrity of wholesale energy markets already in force) are gradually making Europe the grid to which the provision of increasingly complete information about the electricity markets applies;
‐ The French debate about energy transition also revealed the need for better information on the scale of the grid of each French region with respect to the development of the electricity system.
These trends were reflected in 2014 by different developments of tools and means of transparency at RTE.
Transparency and information on the electrical system
For 2 years, RTE has largely contributed to the debates on the energy transition which have resulted in the adoption by the National Assembly of the bill relating to energy transition for green growth in October 2014.
In particular, RTE recommended the adoption of provisions in favour of greater transparency with respect to information on the electrical system. The text thus provides that forecast overviews and electrical reports will be prepared, that a registry of production and storage facilities will be created and that RTE will make more data relating to the electrical system available to the public.
Publication of regional electrical reports
In 2014, RTE greatly reinforced the information relating to the electrical system of the 21 administrative regions in Metropolitan France; 21 regional electrical reports have thus been published, on a harmonised common medium. These reports describe the characteristics of the electrical system of the region, and explain the issues at stake for the network development projects to accompany the energy transition. For the first time, they have completed an education summary with the aim of highlighting the role of the transmission network for the interregional sharing of means of electricity production; published on RTE's website in April 2014, these reports were also presented and commented on by RTE at 21 press conferences organised in the main regional capitals by the RTE Regional Delegates.
Covers of some of the 21 regional electrical reports
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Cover pages of some of the chapters of the regional electrical reports
The regional electrical reports focus on the following topics, in particular:
The evolution of consumption, the analysis by sectors and the peaks of consumption by
administrative region...
The electric mix and its regional developments, the development of renewable energies, the
regional balances put in perspective with national data...
The projects and investments to adapt the network, accommodate renewable energies, repair
the European electrical network of the future...
A summary of the regional electrical reports integrating the issues at stake and key figures has also
been published.
Panorama of renewable energies (RNE)
Published in collaboration with the the SER, ERDF and the ADEEF, the Panorama of RNE presents a semi‐
annual review of the development of renewable energies and the challenges linked to their insertion in
the electrical networks.
The Panorama of RNE makes a detailed review available to the public, covering the wind, solar and
hydraulic sectors, at a national level and for each French region. For each of sector, a large number of
indicators is provided: evolution of facilities connected to networks, regional productions, load factors,
but also unpublished data, including the rates of regional coverage of consumption by each of the
production sectors. There is also an analysis of the growth of these sectors in the light of national and
regional commitments up to 2020.
Place online on RTE's website, the Panorama of RNE has been widely distributed by RTE's Regional
Delegations and during the symposia of the SER.
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The Panorama of RNE offers a large number of national and regional indicators
Publication of detailed information on the interconnections
In 2014, RTE published an educational summary on the information relating to the electrical
interconnections; thus, for the first time, RTE has published statistical data on the interconnection
capacities and their rate of use.
RTE therefore contributes to a better understanding of the issues surrounding the interconnection of European networks.
éCO2mix
A tool allowing users to view key data and information on the electrical system, "eco2mix" was greatly
enriched in 2014 with the publication of load curves
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for the regions and the publication of notable events relating to the situation of the supply‐demand balance at a national and regional level.
éCO2mix: Provision of key figures and monthly analyses
It should be noted, in particular, the provision of the éCO2mix website of the calendar for Tempo‐like supply contracts
Transparency of markets
In 2014, RTE prepared for the implementation of European regulations concerning the transparency of markets by developing tools which provide virtually real‐time data on the operation of the French and European electrical system.
As of January 2015, this data will be sent and made available on platform developed by ENTSOE which will provide a publication harmonised between all the European network managers and adapted to the needs of the market actors.
In compliance with the French regulatory framework concerning the confidentiality of data, RTE makes a maximum amount of information available on the French and European electrical system, thereby contributing to the integration of European markets and the implementation of the energy transition.
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The RTE website will therefore be the French reflection of this European data.
RTE will also harmonise the publication of so‐called "privileged" information on the wholesale market, in response to the REMIT regulation. Thus, the programmed and fortuitous unavailabilities of the 400 KV will be broadened by those having a cross‐border capacity impact. Similarly, the "UFE transparency" initiative supported by RTE and allowing French producers to publish their fortuitous unavailabilities on the RTE website, will be reintegrated in this new European framework, and will now concern any type of unavailability for any group/power plant of over 100 MW.
3. Confidentiality
3.1 General provisions
For obligations made to RTE and its employees in terms of confidentiality and respect for it, an audit performed in 2012 at the request of the compliance officer made the following observations:
"There have not been any confidentiality incidents with serious consequences on its customers since the founding of RTE.
There is a strong cultural current, supported by all employees, especially those most exposed
(belonging to customer relations services).
But the entire system, from its organisation and moderation through to the awareness raising and training of the various company players needs to be revised and reactivated, especially in the light of the current reorganizations."
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To allow for observations and recommendations made in the audit, RTE has adopted an action plan to strengthen the previous system.
In order to recall and respecify what the company expects from its staff and its management in terms of internal control, monitoring the treatment of deviations, training and information on the subject, in February 2014 RTE published an internal prescriptive directive8 based on the new organisation of RTE built around its business lines now in charge of defining and monitoring the operational processes, such as the training system.
In accordance with the action plan after the audit, this document was the subject of a review of requirements, and in 2014 was adjusted by the business departments concerned.
These reviews of requirements allowed:
To update the list of commercially sensitive information held not only by the business department in charge of relations with customers and markets but also by the so‐called "industrial" business departments.
To redefine the responsibilities and procedures with regard to the detection of "confidentiality incidents" and control actions induced by the situations encountered within the framework of the new organisation of the company.
With respect to raising awareness among the different actors of the company concerning their obligations in terms of confidentiality, the compliance officer was able to observe the transverse controls carried out in 2013 and 2014 in four of RTE's seven regions9. RTE's employees were made aware of this subject on the creation of the company and during the first years of existence of RTE. Since then, the compliance officer has ensured when performing controls in the regions and during his monitoring of the activity of the national directorates that new‐comers are made aware of these obligations when they arrive in the company by their management.
To complete the system, action by the compliance officer, this year as in 2013, is being devoted to the subject during the induction training of executives into the company.
The provisions in effect appear to be suitable for the officials in charge of various aspects of relations with customers, considering their daily practice all the various aspects of the confidentiality obligations.
For employees less often confronted by these obligations, the presentation of the new version of the confidentiality directive will be made or continued at the management meetings of the "industrial" business lines.
3.2 Monitoring of "confidentiality" incidents
RTE identifies all the incidents and near incidents which occur.
It is recalled that incidents are deviations which could potential have consequences for the customers concerned, while near incidents are actions for which it is certain that they
8 "RTE Confidentiality Directive", Internal Document DIR‐ACI‐DAR‐04‐00023, index 3, 19/02/2014
9 Controls performed in the Marseille and Paris‐Nanterre entities in 2013 and the Lille and Nantes entities in 2014
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have had no consequences for customers (most often because the risk of error has been detected before the actual realisation of the deviation)
All incidents and near incidents are the subject of an analysis and, where appropriate, the implementation of actions to address the causes identified.
The situation of the number of incidents and near incidents in 2014 is the following.
2012 2013 2014
Number of incidents 15 9 14
Number of near incidents 4 6 9
Number of incidents and near incidents over the last three years
No deviation in the obligations of confidentiality had any major consequences for customers in 2014.
As in previous years, it can be noted that the bulk of situations are due to an error of address or access to data. The situations encountered gave rise to either a strengthening of the reinforcement procedures to check proper addressing or reminders on the proper implementation of existing procedures.
The compliance officer was satisfied with the steadily increasing number of near incidents declared: they are a relevant indicator both of the level of attention and involvement of the staff concerned in the control of this type of deviation and of the company's training effort to maintain this control.
Taking into account
the observations made these past two years in the four regions controlled,
the strengthening of the provisions taken after the 2012 audit,
the previous observation on the monitoring and treatment of "confidentiality" incidents,
the compliance officer considers in 2014, as in 2013:
that the knowledge and respect of confidentiality obligations by the management of RTE and its employees is satisfactory,
that the provisions to avoid any diminution in the attention devoted to this subject have been taken and appear to be adequate, if they are maintained over the course of time.
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3.3 Employee movement
The Commissionknown as "Article 13"10, established by Article L. 111‐74 of the Energy Code is designed to govern the conditions for the transfer of partners who have had access to commercially sensitive information to enterprises working in the energy sector.
It was set up so that the chairman of the board at RTE could refer to an opinion before deciding on the mobility of RTE employees towards companies working in the energy sector when they had been exposed to commercially sensitive information. This commission proposes that certain movements be preceded by transitional periods giving the information held the time to become obsolete.
The following table summarises the commission's activity over the last 9 years:
Year 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Files presented to the secretariat of the Commission 19 26 36 26 25 29 28 26 20
Folders having given rise to referral to the Commission: 8 20 19 13 10 10 18 8 4
Cases with information considered as incompatible
4 6 7 6 3 7 8 4 0
Cases with information considered as compatible
4 14 12 7 6 3 10 4 4
Decision of the Chairman of RTE's Executive Board
Still compliant with the Commission's opinion
The number of files submitted to the secretariat of the commission during 2014 is less significant than in previous years. This decrease in the number of situations presented to the committee appears, however, consistent with the lower number of departures to other companies than in previous years. In 2014, the Commission did not propose any transitional period for the files referred to it.
The greatest risk in this regard is that certain situations which justify it are not submitted to the Commission. This risk was identified in 2012 at the time a deviation was observed.
No deviations or potential deviations appeared in 2013 or 2014, other than the one identified in the 2012 report of the compliance officer.
However, the identification of situations justifying the submission of a file to the commission could be improved and has been the subject of recommendations which have been followed in recent years:
10 So named according to the number of the article of Law n° 2000‐108 of February 10, 2000
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‐ Actions to raise awareness among employees and management have been relaunched (see above: reminder to the members of the management of the business lines most concerned, information to new agents on their arrival and during induction training).
‐ The strengthening of the detection system including the attention of some members of the HR function, namely the careers advisers in charge of monitoring the evolution of employees, in support of that expected of the management was put in place in 2014.
RTE is therefore very generally attentive to the compliant application of internal procedures intended to alert agents on their obligations vis‐à‐vis compliance with Article 13 and the effective implementation of the provisions of this article.
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General assessment for 2014 and recommendations
The compliance by RTE and all its employees with the code of good practice and the independence vis‐à‐vis the VUI was observed throughout 2014 by the compliance officer. The audits performed in 2014, and in particular the one carried out on the company's capacity to maintain its commitments in the long‐term in this area confirm this assessment.
This audit also confirmed the assessment of the compliance officer on the additional commitments made by RTE during the certification: these commitments have been met or should be met according to the timetable announced to the Regulatory Commission.
The audits performed in the regions show this year, once again, that the culture and behaviour of the entire staff are still very naturally and very deeply impregnated with these obligations and commitments.
To avoid any deviation in this respect, and using the impulse given by the implementation of its new organisation, in 2014 RTE reinforced its actions of organisation, raising awareness and training on the topics of confidentiality, transparency and non‐discrimination.
Furthermore, the changes expected by the CRE in its 2013 report have given rise to actions observed by the compliance officer. Mentioned throughout this report, these actions are summarised in the appendix.
The main recommendations of the compliance officer presented in this report are the following.
To analyse each year, during the review of the company's major risks, the control of all commitments related to the certification.
To affirm the role of RTE's Regional Delegate as guarantor of the company's independence at the regional level.
To formalise with the HR Division of the EDF Group the way in which the obligations of the Energy Code in the field of human resources is jointly taken into account and implemented.
To strengthen the anticipation now carried out of the deadlines for the renewal of contracts having been approved by the CRE by monitoring throughout the year by the managements concerned.
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2015 actions of the compliance officer
On the basis of these findings and in addition to its necessary recurring actions, the compliance officer therefore proposes, in 2015, to:
Continue the cycle of controls undertaken to assess compliance with the code of good practices in the regional entities, to achieve the goal of control over all the regions by RTE over 3 years;
Initiate a cycle of monitoring compliance with the code of good practices by the management of the business lines directly concerned. The number and list of these managements will be defined taking into account the subjects relating to the compliance obligations handled by these managements over the year.
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Appendix
Main developments expected from RTE and EDF by the Energy Regulatory Commission in its 2013 report and developments noted by RTE's compliance officer
Development expected by the CRE Development noted by the compliance
officer
Amend the company's articles of association to specify that the scope of
the prohibition relating to the cumulation of activities extends to any
company carrying out supply or production activities.
Action falling under the responsibility of the general
shareholders' meeting
Transmit a certificate, for financial year 2013, issued by one of the
statutory auditors regarding compliance with the provisions of Article
L.111‐15 of the Energy Code.
Action carried out: cf. §2.2 Governance
Put in place the new organisational note of the department "Regulation,
Tariffs, Financial path, Subsidiaries" which will incorporate the critical
cross‐reading of documents transmitted to the shareholder by the
management of said department.
Action carried out: cf. §2.2 Governance
Comply with the commitments made for the transitional period of
withdrawal of R&D services provided by EDF to
RTE.
Action in progress: cf. § 1.3 RTE's Research and
Development completely autonomous by the end of
2015: a redeployment of resources consistent with
the commitments
Take the measures determined at the end of the audit
RCOP
Action carried out: cf. §1.1 Network Access
Commission
Continue the efforts to improve its internal operation in order to better
ensure compliance with the time limits for submitting contracts and the
deadlines for the commitments taken.
Action initiated in 2014 and to continue in
2015 : cf. § 1.5 In 2014, the CRE approved all the
contracts presented between RTE and the VIU
Finalise the withdrawal of a few services from EDF's IS department,
concerning the areas of health, safety or occupational health which
continue, and continue the migration of RTE's servers from the premises
currently managed by EDF.
Action in progress: cf. §1.1
Information systems
Continue the work to raise awareness and explain the constraints which
RTE's agents are currently subject to in the regions, in particular before
EDF's regional delegates.
Action carried out: cf. §2.2 Governance
Remain attentive to users' expectations concerning the
quality and speed with which claims are processed.
Permanent action strengthened in 2014: cf.
2.2 Customer claims
Implement the plan of actions consisting in changing the standard
Technical and Financial Proposal model and the connection procedure.
Action carried out in August 2013: Cf. 2013
report.
Implement the plan of actions on the subject "confidentiality". Action carried out: cf. § Confidentiality
For the compliance officer to carry out, at his initiative, audits in connection with independence and the code of good practices, the findings and recommendations of which could be included in his annual report.
Action carried out: the entire report for the
2014 audits and § Actions 2015 of the
compliance officer.
