Exceptional events and force majeure events and their use in the electricity sector

This paper contains some reflections about “exceptional events” and “force majeure events” as used within quality of supply regulation. The terms are widely used, but without commonly-used definitions. A survey among 20 European countries has been used as the basic for the paper. It is concluded that “exceptional events” are more appropriate for regulation but that they should cover events that are both sufficiently rare and with a effective cause beyond control of the network operator.