MISSIONS OF GRTgaz

As part of the process of liberalising the gas and electricity markets, the historic operators in the natural gas and electricity sectors have separated their production/supply business from transmission and distribution system management.

GRTgaz is the operator of the natural gas transmission system previously owned by Gaz de France. As owner of the system and the entity responsible for its commercialisation, GRTgaz was created to provide an entirely even-handed service to all operators wishing to enter the French market.

Its mission is to foster genuine competition between natural gas producers/suppliers for the benefit of gas consumers, whether industrial or residential users.
In this capacity, GRTgaz seeks to develop the transmission system in order to offer consumers the competitive prices generated by a diversity of supply sources.

Investment in the transmission system is not only a key component in the opening up of the market and in the development of free competition, but also a guarantee of continuity of supply, even in extremely cold conditions. As a transmission operator, GRTgaz is obliged to maintain a transmission system that is able to handle so-called 1-in-50 severe annual demand, i.e. the kind of cold weather that occurs statistically every 50 years. This is a public service obligation.

The services provided by GRTgaz :

• GRTgaz provides transmission services on behalf of natural gas shippers, natural gas suppliers on the French market or traders who buy and sell natural gas on the European markets. Transmission entails receiving a given quantity of natural gas at one or more entry points on the transmission system and releasing a quantity of gas with the same energy content at one or more delivery points on that system.
  


• GRTgaz provides connection and delivery of natural gas to industrial customers connected to the transmission system, and to the distribution systems.