Entry-exit model
The entry-exit model (also known as a two -contract model ) is a billing system for remuneration for gas transport services in the German natural gas network. According to the entry-exit model, the gas supplier feeds gas into the network at any point (= entry). A feed-in fee has to be paid for this. The gas can be withdrawn from the network at any location (= exit), for which a withdrawal fee has to be paid. The transport route is irrelevant in this model for calculating the costs.
background
On October 1, 2006, the entry-exit model replaced the previously used transport path model (also point-to-point model) on the German gas market . In the past, if gas traders wanted to transport gas over a certain route, they had to conclude their own transmission agreement with all the network operators involved, which led to relatively high costs and a non-transparent gas market.
The basis for the entry-exit model in Germany is the principle of market areas, which consist of the amalgamation of the supply area of a number of transmission system operators . Within the market areas, a gas supplier must always supply the relevant networks with the amount of gas that he or his customers withdraw from the networks, without the withdrawn amount being the same physical gas supplied by the gas supplier; to this end, a so-called balancing process takes place, through which the supplier balances feeds and feeds into the network. This means that a shipper always holds a certain amount of gas within a market area, which can also be freely traded.
The transport of gas within these zones takes place through the naming of entry and exit quantities and points. In order to enable the corresponding quantities to be booked, network operators are obliged to announce free capacities on the Internet. In addition, entry and exit points between which the gas can be transported must be named. At these points, the network operators must offer entry and exit capacities that can be used independently of each other without the shipper having to commit to a specific, transaction-dependent transport path.