Virtual Private Network
Introduction
The Virtual Private Network (VPN) has been construed to facilitate the Allocation Process in the first place; secondly also the reconciliation process is handled via the VPN. This will be clarified hereunder.
According to plan the complete Dutch gas market will be liberalized on July 1st 2004, including end users consuming less than 1 million m³ gas per year. This concerns 6 million end users mainly connected to regional networks. To facilitate this liberalization, the Dutch Platform Versnelling Energieliberalisering (PVE) was installed, in which the parties concerned have agreed on a number of procedures. The regional network companies allocate to the relevant shippers and suppliers, and Gas Transport Services, in its role as transmission system operator, has developed facilities to be used by the parties involved. As from January 1st 2004, parties have started using the Virtual Private Network for the exchange of messages in the Allocation Process. In this Allocation Process there are separate roles for shippers, suppliers and distribution network operators.
The use of VPN offers some major advantages. Contrary to the World Wide Web, the VPN is a digital network with a guaranteed availability and bandwidth, and as such enables a reliable exchange of large amounts of messages at machine level, such as allocation messages that are fundamental to adequate invoicing.
