Legal regulation of electricity market

Straipsnyje apžvelgtas administracinis teisinis elektros rinkos reguliavimas. Jo tikslas – atskleisti socialinių santykių pokyčius elektros energetikos sektoriuje, aptarti jiems taikomus teisinio reguliavimo metodus bei šių metodų ir siekiamų teisinio reguliavimo tikslų atitikimą. Straipsnį sudaro dvi dalys. Pirmoje dalyje atskleidžiami socialinių santykių bei administracinio teisinio reguliavimo metodų pokyčiai elektros energetikos sektoriuje, apžvelgiama, kaip rinkos liberalizavimas veikia naujų administracinio teisinio reguliavimo režimų atsiradimą, analizuojamos rinkos priežiūros institucijos funkcijos ir tikslai. Antra straipsnio dalis skirta Lietuvos elektros rinkos administracinio teisinio reguliavimo ir jos priežiūros analizei. Čia išvardijami teisės aktai, reguliuojantys elektros rinką, elektros rinkos priežiūrą vykdančios institucijos, jų funkcijos ir tikslai. Taip pat aptariamos elektros energetikos sektoriaus veiklų licencijavimo arba leidimų jomis verstis išdavimo taisyklės. Straipsnyje išanalizuota medžiaga leidžia daryti išvadas, kad veikla elektros rinkoje skirstomos į dvi grupes: į veiklas, tarp kurių vyksta konkurencija, ir į natūralias reguliuojamas monopolijas. Elektros rinkos reguliavimo esmė – sukurti konkurenciją, jei ji įmanoma, ir reguliuoti sritis, jei tai reikalinga.In the world during the last decade many countries are refusing direct regulation of electricity market and are seeking to create electricity market based on the principles of free market and on the competition of the participants of the electricity energy sector. The liberalization of electricity energy market caused the formation of completely new social relationships, which must be regulated by government. The regulation of electricity market is discussed in this article. The attention is focused on the regulation of business relationships among market participants not concerning technical requirements. The aim of this article is to over view the changes of electricity market regulation in the world and to find out reasons for these changes, and to run through the principles of the regulations of newly emerged Lithuanian electricity market. The article is divided in two parts. The first part is devoted to the analysis of changes of the social relationships and administrative legal regulation in electricity market. The influence of the market liberalization to the new regulations regimes, and the aims and functions of market regulator, which is the independent from political forces, are discussed in this part of the article. The liberalization of electricity energy market caused the changes of relationship among the electricity market participants. These changes influenced formation of new methods and aims of legal regulation of electricity market. Today the government do not need to apply direct legal regulation to the electricity market, which functionate according the law of free market, it is enough to establish the institution responsible of electricity market supervision and performing functions, which can not be ensured by the free market. The second part of the article is devoted to the analysis of electricity market regulation and supervision in Lithuania. There are listed statutes, which regulate electricity market, the main regulators of electricity market, their aims and functions. In Lithuania the supervision of electricity market are performing three institutions – Ministry of Economy, National Control Commission for Prices and Energy and National Inspection for Energetic. The main conclusion is made if electricity market is left to be governed entirely thorough market mechanisms, than the optimal solution as seen from the point of view of society as a whole is not likely to occur. The aim of electricity market regulation is to promote competition and to regulate if competition is impossible