Network access

Gasunie offers a set of transparent and non-discriminatory transport services. This benefits a competitive market which is positive for the industry, business and private consumers.  They will have the opportunity to choose the right provider for them. Consequently, competition does lead to a decline of the energy prices.

With the second amendment of the German Energy Industry Act (EnWG) implemented, the model for regulated network access in Germany was established. This amendment was carried out in 2005 and is regulated by the Cooperation Agreements (KoV) that concludes the gas network operators. The set of rules set out here written down in the General Terms and Conditions of Gasunie.

In addition to the EnWG, the legal framework for gas transport is determined by the Gas Network Access Ordinance (GasNZV) and the Gas Network Fee Ordinance (GasNEV). We provide all relevant laws and regulations in our download area.

The transport takes place in a so-called entry-exit system. The transmission system operators form market areas and appoint a market area manager for each market area who performs the tasks provided for in the GasNZV. Since the merger of the two German market areas GASPOOL and Net Connect Germany (NCG) to form Trading Hub Europe (THE) on 1 October 2021, there is only one market area (THE) in Germany and therefore only one market area manager.

The booking of entry and exit capacities by the shipper will continue to take place with the respective entry and exit network operator, including Gasunie.

Booked entry and/or exit points must be entered into balancing groups before the capacities are used. The balancing group management for the entire German market area has been carried out by Trading Hub Europe (THE) since 1 October 2021. Within the scope of the balancing group contract, the balancing group manager has to ensure that the sum of the injections of the balancing group corresponds to the sum of the offtakes of the balancing group in each hour.

Trading Hub Europe GmbH was founded on 1 June 2021 through cooperation between the network companies bayernets GmbH, Fluxys TENP GmbH, GASCADE Gastransport GmbH, Gastransport Nord GmbH, Gasunie Deutschland Transport Services GmbH, GRTgaz Deutschland GmbH, Nowega GmbH, ONTRAS Gastransport GmbH, Open Grid Europe GmbH, terranets bw GmbH and Thyssengas GmbH.

Since 1 October 2021, Trading Hub Europe has been the market area manager for the entire German market area and resulted from the merger of the market area managers NCG and GASPOOL.

As of October 2021, Trading Hub Europe will operate the market area in accordance with the "Agreement on Cooperation pursuant to Section 20 1b) EnWG between Operators of Gas Supply Networks Located in Germany".

The tasks of THE include:

• Conclusion of balancing group contracts with balancing group managers
• Management of balancing groups, sub-balancing accounts and network accounts
• Procurement and use of control energy
• Procurement and use of market-based instruments (MBI)
• Data exchange with network operators and balancing group managers
• Operation of the Virtual Trading Point in the THE market area

The high-pressure pipeline system in the Trading Hub Europe market area throughout Germany has a total length of around 40,000 km and connects more than 700 downstream networks.

A market area is a linkage of (sub-)networks interconnected via network interconnection points in which a shipper can flexibly use booked capacities at entry and exit points. A market area begins at the entry points of a (sub-)network of transmission system operators and extends to the exit points (border crossing points, hubs, storage facilities or end consumers) which are flow-mechanically accessible and allocated in the market area.

The transport within a market area is ensured on the basis of an entry contract and an exit contract. Prior to the commencement and for the settlement of the transport, the entry and exit points booked in the entry and exit contracts must be entered into a balancing group with the transmission system operator. For the German market area, Trading Hub Europe GmbH acts on behalf of the transmission system operators cooperating in this market area.

In the THE market area there is a Virtual Trading Point (VTP) where gas quantities can be traded after injection and before withdrawal within the market area. The THE Hub enables the purchase or sale of gas quantities without capacity booking as well as the transfer of gas quantities between balancing groups. It is not assigned to a physical entry or exit point. For this purpose, trading partners only need a balancing group for the THE market area; they automatically gain access to the THE Hub by concluding a balancing group contract.

For this purpose, the seller nominates the corresponding gas quantity for the corresponding period from his balancing group, specifying the balancing group number of the buyer. Conversely, the buyer nominates the corresponding gas quantity for the corresponding period into his balancing group, stating the balancing group number of the seller. Ideally, both quantities correspond to each other. THE's task is to check this during matching. If there is a mismatch, the lower of the two values is allocated.

THE publishes essential information on exchange and broker gas trading at the THE Hub on a monthly and annual basis as well as the churn rate and trading volumes.