AggregateEU is the new EU mechanism enabling demand aggregation and joint gas purchasing at the European level. It was set up following the adoption of Council Regulation (EU) 2022/2576 (the so-called “Solidarity Regulation”) which introduced EU-level gas demand aggregation and joint purchasing for the first time, informs the European Commission.
This piece of legislation was proposed by the Commission on 18 October 2022, agreed by Energy Ministers on 24 November, and formally adopted on 19 December as part of the EU’s toolkit to tackle the energy crisis. The Regulation obliges Member States to aggregate demand for volumes of gas equivalent to at least 15% of their respective storage filling obligations.
The AggregateEU mechanism is managed by a service provider contracted by the Commission, Prisma European Capacity Platform GmbH. The mechanism allows companies to aggregate their gas demand and to match it with the most competitive supply offers on the global market. AggregateEU will establish a series of tenders for suppliers, through which EU companies will be able to buy both pipeline gas and LNG from the global market, with the exclusion of Russian supplies. It will create a transparent marketplace complementing the existing trading venues to bring many companies closer to the wholesale market and possibly new entrants into the LNG market. This should represent an opportunity not only to large resellers, but will also bring smaller customers, especially in landlocked countries, closer to the regional or global gas market.
Demand aggregation and joint purchasing is one pillar of the work of the EU Energy Platform, which was created to work on the diversification of EU gas supplies after Russia invaded Ukraine and Europe collectively decided to end its dependence on Russian fossil fuel imports.
The EU Energy Platform also carries out international outreach to external energy suppliers, including for the negotiation of political commitments and regulatory conditions to increase gas supplies. It is also responsible for coordinating efficient use of EU gas infrastructure, including LNG import capacity optimisation, to avoid bottlenecks and ensure smooth gas deliveries to all Member States.
The AggregateEU mechanism aims to collect and pool gas demand from companies established in the EU or in Energy Community countries and match it with the most competitive supply offers in time for the next storage filling season. This means that aggregation of demand is open to both gas consuming and gas trading companies from all EU countries and from Energy Community contracting parties (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, Republic of North Macedonia, Serbia, Ukraine).
To be eligible to participate in tenders, the companies must first register with the service provider, PRISMA and subscribe to the AggregateEU mechanism. Both EU and non-EU companies can participate as suppliers, with the exclusion of Russian companies.
EU Member States must ensure that local companies submit their demand for an equivalent of 15% of each Member State’s gas storage filling obligations, as set out in the gas storage regulation. However, the purchasing of gas by companies will remain entirely voluntary. Each company can participate either as a seller or as a buyer in any single tender at AggregateEU, but not both.
