ACER Assesses EU DSO Entity's Gas and Hydrogen Documents
Summary
The European Union Agency for Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) has issued an opinion on the updated draft statutory documents of the EU DSO entity, which now include provisions for gas and hydrogen distribution system operators. ACER's assessment notes reasonable adaptations but also identifies potential risks of deadlocks and inconsistencies with existing electricity regulations.
What changed
ACER has published its opinion on the revised statutory documents of the EU DSO entity, which have been updated to incorporate natural gas and hydrogen distribution system operators following the Hydrogen and Decarbonised Gas Market Package. The agency acknowledges the efforts to ensure fair representation and facilitate cooperation among a broader range of operators through new governance structures like electricity and gas/hydrogen Councils. However, ACER also points out that the new decision-making arrangements might lead to increased deadlocks and that some provisions do not fully align with the existing Electricity Regulation.
The European Commission will now review ACER's opinion and has three months to provide its final assessment. If the Commission's assessment is favourable, the EU DSO entity will then have another three months to formally adopt and publish the updated statutory documents. Regulated entities, particularly those involved in gas and hydrogen distribution, should be aware of these evolving governance structures and potential regulatory alignments.
What to do next
- Review ACER's opinion on the EU DSO entity's updated statutory documents.
- Monitor the European Commission's final assessment and the EU DSO entity's subsequent adoption of the documents.
- Ensure understanding of any implications for gas and hydrogen distribution system operators regarding governance and decision-making processes.
Source document (simplified)
ACER assessed the EU DSO entity’s draft statutory documents updated to include gas and hydrogen
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ACER assessed the EU DSO entity’s draft statutory documents updated to include gas and hydrogen
What is it about?
Today, ACER issues its Opinion on the EU DSO entity’s draft statutory documents updated to include gas and hydrogen.
Why update these documents?
The EU DSO entity was created in 2019 by the Clean Energy Package to facilitate cooperation among European electricity distribution system operators (DSOs). The Hydrogen and Decarbonised Gas Market Package (2024) expanded the entity’s scope to include natural gas and hydrogen DSOs, requiring an update and resubmission of its statutes and rules to ensure fair and balanced representation of all operators. The updated documents were submitted to ACER and the European Commission in November 2025.
What’s the role of ACER?
ACER is mandated to provide an Opinion on the EU DSO entity’s updated draft statutory documents.
To inform its assessment, ACER conducted a consultation from 21 November to 19 December 2025, seeking input from organisations representing all stakeholders, in particular distribution system users (including customers).
What’s ACER assessment?
ACER considers the proposed governance amendments a reasonable adaptation to reflect a broader, more diverse membership and expanded tasks.
ACER welcomes steps to broaden DSOs’ participation in the EU DSO entity’s sector-specific activities through the creation of electricity and gas/hydrogen Councils and revised decision-making processes to reduce majority dominance.
However, ACER notes that the new decision-making arrangements may increase the risk of deadlocks and that certain provisions of the updated draft documents do not consistently reflect the rules set out in the Electricity Regulation.
What are the next steps?
This ACER Opinion is addressed to the European Commission, which has three months to provide its final assessment. If favourable, the EU DSO entity then has three months to adopt and publish the updated statutory documents.
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