EPEX SPOT to develop Certificate Trading System CTS

Exchange Council welcomes EU Commission’s consultation on electricity market

Zurich / Paris, 17 September 2015 – The Exchange Council of tthe European Power Exchange EPEX SPOT has welcomed the EU Commission’s Consultative Communication on the future European electricity market design. During its meeting in Zurich, the members discussed some of the key messages of EPEX SPOT’s answer to the consultation:

•    EPEX SPOT supports the strengthening of the market price signal and opposes any form of regulatory intervention which would obstruct the market’s trust in the free price formation process. Neither should transmission capacity be restricted in shortage situations.
•    The market integration of renewable energy sources should be seen as an opportunity to harmonise European support schemes: renewables should increasingly act on the markets, cross-border support schemes should be promoted and Guarantees of Origins should be strengthened as an instrument for electricity labelling.
•    Power Exchanges, or National Electricity Market Operators (NEMOs) as defined in the EU Regulation on Capacity Allocation and Congestion Management (CACM), will now play an even more important role in the governance of market coupling and defend orderly, transparent and liquid markets.

“We fully support EPEX SPOT’s active partaking in such consultations as the one recently launched by the EU Commission in the framework of their summer package for the Energy Union”, says Peter Heydecker, Chairman of the Exchange Council. “As Power Exchange with European scope, EPEX SPOT is the legitimate voice calling for a pan-European energy only market design.”

Moreover, the Exchange Council approved the deployment of the new Certificate Trading System CTS for the upcoming organised market for trading of capacity guarantees in France. The Exchange Council also was informed about the future market rules for the new market segment which it will approve in the upcoming months.

“The capacity market will be organised through several auctions per year”, explains Jean-François Conil-Lacoste, Chairman of the Management Board of EPEX SPOT. “We expect the first sessions to take place in early 2016.”

The market is based on the capacity mechanism introduced by the French Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy and the French electricity grid operator RTE. It responds to a specific need of the French power market: The capacity mechanism was set up in order to ensure security of supply in France, which might be challenged by a combination of fast increasing peak load and low profitability for capacity owners.

The third Exchange Council meeting in 2015 was held on 15 September in Zurich and was chaired by Peter Heydecker, Head of European Power at Vitol.

The Exchange Council of EPEX SPOT is an official body of the Exchange. 22 members and 4 permanent guests represent adequately the diversity of economic and corporate profiles that exists among the Exchange Members from various sectors: producers, power trading companies, transmission system operators, regional suppliers and financial service providers, as well as commercial consumers and academics. Its missions include in particular the adoption of the Exchange Rules and the Code of Conduct of EPEX SPOT and their amendments. The Exchange Council approves new trading systems as well as new contracts or market areas and approves the appointment of the Head of the Market Surveillance Office. It meets up quarterly.

The European Power Exchange EPEX SPOT SE operates the short-term electricity markets for Germany, France, Austria and Switzerland. EPEX SPOT owns 100% of APX Group (including Belpex), operator of the short-term electricity markets for the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Belgium. Striving for the creation of a European single market for electricity, EPEX SPOT shares its expertise with partners across the continent and beyond. EPEX SPOT is a European company (Societas Europaea) in corporate structure and staff, based in Paris with offices in Amsterdam, Bern, Brussels, Leipzig, London and Vienna. 275 companies trade over 450 TWh of electricity on EPEX SPOT and APX every year – one third of its countries’ electricity consumption. EPEX SPOT is held by EEX Group, part of Deutsche Börse, and European electricity transmission system operators. For more information: www.epexspot.com