Q&A: EEX EPEX Spot & EEX Participants Currently 262 trading participants from 21 countries (4 in N. America) 5
needs of the energy trading community as well as political decision makers and the general public. ELIX equals the uncongested price for an
5 1 42 2 1 15 28 3 16 2 6 92 13 1 6 3 As of 31st October 2010
will further support decoupling of European gas prices from the oil price. Furthermore, the linkage to market prices can contribute to increase the confidence which consumers place in pricing by the gas business companies. We feel this is an important tool for all parties involved right through the supply chain to consumer delivery.
GI: How has the establishment of the central transparency platform (in conjunction with the German Transmission System Operators) strengthened confidence and transparency? H-BM: The Transparency in Energy Markets platform launched by EEX late last year has met with an excellent response from energy sector participants. The number of companies reporting on the platform has increased from an initial number of eight to 21 today and the degree of coverage of the statutory publication requirements has increased to 85% [as of November 2010]. The high number of hits on the website and the significant and positive reception from the large number of different stakeholders shows the awareness of, and the need for, a platform of this type for the market. Over the year, data on the actual and expected generation of solar energy has been added to the fundamental consumption data and two Austrian companies have already started using the platform for voluntary publications.
GI: What was your rationale for launching the new European Electricity Index (ELIX) given that it does not ‘trade’ in the traditional sense? H-BM: Based on the objective of a truly integrated, single European market, the new ELIX addresses the
40 December 2010
GI: How successful have EU energy leaders been in fostering a more integrated and efficient European energy marketplace and what needs to be achieved in the short term to stimulate the process? H-BM: Well, we have had explicit auctions all across Germany for a while. Explicit auctions are true market mechanisms under which available transportation capacities in existing congestions are for sales. True market mechanisms, by
definition, include the possibility of errors. Thus, politicians and regulators across the board decided to eliminate this possibility of error by replacing explicit with implicit auctions. Although this ensures maximum utilization of cross-
border capacities, shipping of electricity energy is a monopoly. We would definitely have preferred the construction of more grid lines, allowing for a twofold scenario – the possibility for error and full arbitrage. Maybe this will be part of life after market coupling. At least, we are working towards it.
GI: Is, in your opinion, European regulation of the energy trading sector moving in the right direction and what specific details would you like to see embraced in proposed legislation? H-BM: EEX is in line with the EU Commission’s view to build up a tailor-made uniform legal framework for energy markets throughout Europe, which includes the supervision of all market platforms as well as [still] uncontrolled bilateral OTC trading. We are particularly encouraged that transparency standards have been improved by energy exchanges in recent years. Our platform Transparency in Energy Markets has
already established a good position for itself in its first year. For example, not only do we work with the German regulator Federal Network Agency [Bundesnetzagentur], which of course is a given in EEX’s ‘home’ country, but we are also building links and sharing best practice with regulators beyond our shores – for example with Ofgem in the UK. I feel that our experience in the area of transparency
and our already existing infrastructures will allow us to incorporate and harmonise what we do within a
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integrated market area comprising France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, representing nearly 40% of EU energy consumption. The index is interesting because it has the ability to highlight discrepancies between what the actual market price is and what it might be with improved transportation capacities between borders. In other words, ELIX is displaying how close regional prices already are to a market price in a hypothetical, fully integrated European market.
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