On Wednesday 21st March, the Exchange Council of the European Energy Exchange (EEX) held its first meeting of 2018 in Brussels, chaired by Dr Michael Redanz, Managing Director of EWE Trading GmbH. In the course of the meeting, the Exchange Council addressed a number of topics including an update on the German bidding zone, the progress achieved in the Phelix-DE contract as well as the upcoming Exchange Council elections.
During the meeting, the Exchange Council reaffirmed their opposition to any further splits of bidding zones which could result in a number of negative consequences for both consumers and the energy industry in general. This follows the recent changes to the Electricity Network Access Regulation, (StromNZV) by the German Federal Cabinet which confirmed that the German bidding zone cannot be split in the future and explicitly states that Germany could potentially become part of a larger bidding zone. Furthermore, the Exchange Council welcomed the significant and decisive efforts undertaken by EEX and its market participants last year with regards to the impending bidding zone split. These measures helped to limit negative impacts on the market and bring back confidence, in particular by the creation of the Phelix-DE contract, which has now firmly established itself as the benchmark contract for European power.
On the topic of German Power, the Exchange Council was happy to hear of the continued positive development in the transition from German/Austrian contracts to German only and Austria only contracts. Since launching the Phelix DE Futures in April 2017, the contract has since developed to become the reference product for European power with the majority of Phelix market makers now quoting the Phelix DE contracts. Furthermore, the Exchange Council welcomed the news that EEX, Saxo Bank and PZEM Energy have entered into a cooperation to offer German Power CFD’s (Contracts for Differences) on Saxo’s fully intergrated trading and risk management platform, SaxoTraderGO since 1st March 2018. The CFD is linked exclusively to prices established in EEX’s Phelix DE orderbook and covers both Phelix DE Base and Peak Futures with monthly, quarterly and yearly expiries. Through the cooperation with Saxo Bank and PZEM Energy (who acts as market maker for the German Power CFD’s on the Saxo platform), a new and broader range of potential trading participants now have access to the Phelix-DE Future.
Finally the Exchange Council were informed of the schedule for this year’s Exchange Council election. Nominations for candidates will be open until the 15th April with the deadline for votes closing at midday on the 30th May 2018.
The Exchange Council of EEX is an official body of the exchange under the German Exchange Act. It consists of a total of 24 members who expertly represent the various relevant interest groups and business circles. In addition to the trading participants who are represented by 19 elected members from five different voting groups, four representatives from associations and one representative of energy science belong to the Exchange Council. The tasks of the Exchange Council include the formulation of the rules and regulations of the exchange and their amendments. The Exchange Council is also tasked with the supervision of the Management Board of the Exchange and the appointment of the Head of the Market Surveillance.