Kainų teisinis reguliavimas elektros energijos rinkoje

Ši monografija yra pirmas bandymas Lietuvos teisės moksle sistemiškai išnagrinėti elektros energijos ir su jos tiekimu susijusių paslaugų kainų teisinio reguliavimo problemas konkurenciniais ir tarpusavio integracijos principais grindžiamoje elektros energijos rinkoje. Knyga neapsiriboja vien teisės normų analize, joje į vieną loginę grandinę sujungiami elektros energijos kainų teisiniu reguliavimu siekiami tikslai, Europos Sąjungos ir Lietuvos teisės aktuose įtvirtintas elektros energijos kainų teisinis reguliavimas ir jo santykis su Lietuvoje esančia specifine elektros energijos rinkos struktūra bei joje susiklosčiusiais socialiniais santykiais. Knygoje nagrinėjamas kainų teisinio reguliavimo turinys, metodai ir institucinė struktūra, jų įtaka kainų dydžiui, sutartinių kainų formavimuisi bei elektros energijos nacionalinių rinkų tarpusavio integracijai. Liberalizuojamoje elektros energijos rinkoje teisiniu kainų reguliavimu leidžiama rinkos mechanizmams nustatyti kainas ten, kur yra konkurencija, ir jos reguliuojamos ten, kur konkurencija negalima ar rinkos dėsniai neužtikrina pažeidžiamų vartotojų grupių interesų apsaugos.Over the last decade, many countries in the world are refusing direct legal regulation of electricity market and are seeking to create the electricity market based on the principles of free market and the competition among the participants of the electricity market. Liberalization of the electricity market caused the origination of new legal methods of the legal regulation of prices in the electricity market. These new methods of the legal regulation of prices have to deal with completely new social relationships which are spreading in the competitive electricity market. As a result, auctions and exchanges of electricity have originated. Electricity generators and suppliers are trading electricity and the prices of electricity are settled by the forces of the market. However, the transmission and distribution of electricity are monopolistic activities; therefore the prices of the services of transportation of electricity are regulated by the state. In the electricity market the legal regulation of prices are analyzed in two separate aspects. One aspect considers the legal regulation of prices of services and goods provided by monopolies in electricity market and seeks to protect the interest of customers. The other aspect is related to energy and tax policy performed by government that seeks to use indirect tax to influence the behaviors of electricity market participants and electricity prices. In Lithuanian legal science this monograph is the first attempt to analyze the problems of the legal regulation of prices in the electricity market functions according to the principles of competition and integration. The monograph is not restricted to the analyses of legal norms. It joins into the logical succession the goals of legal regulation of prices in the electricity market, the legal regulation of electricity prices imposed by the European Unions and Lithuanian legal acts, and its relation with the specific structure of the Lithuanian electricity market. Such logical structure gives not only scientific, but also practical importance, because it makes it possible to identify the dysfunction of legal regulation and provides possible ways of solutions. The first part of the monograph “The development and principles of the legal regulation of the electricity market” is devoted to the analysis of changes of the social relationships and the legal regulation in electricity market. The short history of the legal regulation of the electricity market is described and the main differences between the new and old paradigm of the legal regulation of electricity market are detected. The main steps, problems and principles of the liberalization of the Lithuanian electricity market and the institutions responsible for the regulation of the electricity market are determined. According to the methods of the legal regulation, the two models (regulated and unregulated electricity market) of the Lithuanian electricity market are discovered. Legal grounds of the electricity market liberalization that are laid down in the Treaty Establishing the European Community, the key decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Communities in the energy sector, and the application of the principles of proportionality and subsidiarity are analyzed. The main principles of liberalization of electricity market in the European Union are determined and the problems of implementation of these principles in the Lithuanian legal system are discovered. The second part of the monograph “The main principles of practice and functions of the prices regulatory authority in the electricity market” is devoted to the analyses of the role of regulatory authority in the process of legal regulation of prices. The main aspects of the good practice of the regulatory authority are determined. The main principles of practice of the National Control Commission for Prices and Energy are analyzed and the problems concerning insufficient level of independence of the National Control Commission for Prices and Energy from the political government are disclosed. The competence areas and functions of the National Control Commission for Prices and Energy are described. Moreover, the cases concerning the legal regulation of prices which are brought before the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania are analyzed and classified. The third part of the monograph “The problems of the legal regulation of the prices in the different sectors of electricity market” lays out the main components of the electricity price. They are: the price of electricity generation, the price of electricity transmission services, the price of electricity distribution services, the price of electricity supply services and indirect taxes. The problems of the legal regulation of electricity prices in electricity generation sector are discussed; also, the European Union and Lithuanian legal acts which regulate prices in the electricity generation sector are analyzed. The evolution of the third party access principle from the essential facilities concept is described and the main differences of these principles are revealed. The main principles of the legal regulations of prices of the services of electricity transit among member states are laid out. [...