On October 12, the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) published two guidance notes relating to trading in energy should the UK leave the EU without agreement (No-Deal Brexit). One guidance note focuses on gas and the other relates to electricity.

The guidance notes are part of a series of technical notices that aim to provide information to UK businesses and citizens on how to prepare for a No-Deal Brexit. This describes the situation in which the UK and the EU fail to conclude a draft withdrawal agreement by the time of the UK’s exit from the EU on March 29, 2019, and would mean that there would be no implementation period—currently intended to run from March 30, 2019 to December 31, 2020.

Of interest to market participants, each of the guidance notes state that:

  • UK market participants will need to register under the Regulation on Energy Market Integrity and Transparency (REMIT) with an EU regulatory authority for the purposes of market monitoring to avoid a disruption to cross-border trade and trade within EU wholesale energy markets;
  • where their preparations identify significant concerns, market participants should engage with their regulatory authority; and
  • market participants also should check the status of contracts and licenses that may be affected by the UK’s departure from the EU.

The guidance note relating to gas trading is available here.

The guidance note relating to electricity trading is available here.