EFET:TheFirst10Years...
SincetheEuropeanFederationofEnergyTraders(EFET)wasfoundedinApril1999,
EnergytradinginEuropehasbecomeaseriousnewindustry.
By European Federation of Energy Traders
T
enyearsago,energytradersinEuropeweresometimes Netherlands and Germany. Meanwhile, other European
seen as the ‘cowboys’ of the trading world, likely to countries,someofwhichareamongtheoriginalEU-15,have
jeopardise the efficacy of energy trading markets. beenreluctanttoopenorrestructuretheirelectricitymarkets.
Interestingly enough, during the current credit crunch, they Competition in generation and supply in Belgium, France,
haveprovedtobearemarkablestabiliser Greece,Ireland,ItalyandPortugalisstill
and their companies highly resilient in
EFETisespeciallyknown
limited in practice. In Switzerland,
the face of the economic downturn in
foritscontributionsto
debates about liberalisation have
Europe.Duringyetanother‘gascrisis’in
JanuarythisyearbetweenRussiaandthe
Europeanenergymarket
continuedforseveralyearswithoutany
discernible progress, although the
Ukraine, it became clear that, in the design,policy&regulation voluntary formation of a separate joint
countrieswithatradedmarket(thuswith venture to run the high voltage grid is
multiplesuppliersandamarketprice)therewassubstantially an encouraging sign. Central eastern and south eastern
lessturmoil.Energytradingis,contrarytotheeffectsofsome Europe have remained islands of difficulty, with some
forces,assistingthesecurityofsupplyofenergytoEurope. governments particularly resilient to change. Limited market
EFET has proved itself to be ‘ahead of the crowd’ having liquidityandrestrictedcompetitionhavemadetheprocessof
suggested practical proposals for the necessary changes in marketopeningslowandinefficient.Itisstilldifficultfornew
European legislation and for the standardisation and entrantstobreakintomanyofthesecountries.
harmonisationofenergybusinesscontractsinordertomakethe Overall, interactions between national and/or regional
Europeanenergyindustrymoreefficient,effectiveandcompetitive. markets naturally occur at all key stages of electricity
production, transmission and supply. However, persistant
Ten Years of EFET operationalandstructuraldifferencesinmarketdesignamong
The exemption for energy traders – until 2012 – to comply countriesandregionshavethepotentialtoproduceinefficient
withBaselIobligationsiscurrentlysavingtheEuropeanenergy patternsofbothtradeandtrading.Inthiscontext,wholesale
tradingcommunityover €25billion.Thisisprobablyoneofthe powermarketdistortionsyettobedealtwithinclude:
not so well known successes of EFET. More familiar are the
•
Theavailabilityof transmission access rights.The(financial)
standardEFETcontractsforOTCwholesaleelectricity,gasand predictability of network access across the EU has to be
emissions. More specifically, newer energy traders think that enhancedandtheincentivesforTSOstograntsuchaccess
EFETisatradingcontract.Fortheinitiated,EFETisespecially have to be strengthened. In essence, a new market in
knownforitscontributionstoEuropeanenergymarketdesign, transmissioncapacityrightsneedstobefacilitated.
policyandregulation.
•
The continuing continental ‘regulatory gap’. The current
Thisyearmarksthe10
th
anniversaryofEFET–agoodtime framework for sector regulation of unbundled monopoly
tolookbackbrieflyonsuccesses,addresscurrentproblemsand transmissionoperatorsand/orsuppliersisdesignedtoapply
focusagainonthefuture. primarily within national boundaries. National regulators
needtomakemoreconsistentandcoherentjointeffortsto
In order to ensure that energy markets across Europe amelioratemarketinteractionacrossborders.
develop adequately and integrate effectively, EFET works in
fourmainareas: The Gas Market
•
Power,gasandemissionsmarketdesign.
At present, only in the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands
•
Energypolicyandregulation.
havethevolumesofgastradedinthehighpressurepipeline
•
Standardenergycontracts.
systems matched or exceeded national consumption.
Countries like Germany and France have recently made
•
Electronictransactiondatastandards.
significant improvements in their internal network access
arrangements.Tradinghasbegunat‘virtualpoints’inseveral
The Electricity Market pipeline systems and there are plans to merge some market
Currently, the more mature liberalised European electricity areas.InSpain,wherealmost70%ofthesupplyisLNG,traded
markets are to be found in Scandinavia, the UK, the volumes are significant, but the development of a liquid
worldPower2009 65
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164