Press

Four weeks after the launch of electricity futures trading, EEX has given a positive assessment of the activity in this market. Since the launch on March 1st, roughly 1.32 million megawatt hours (MWh) have been traded in the futures market, that is 3,445 contracts. Of this total, about 75 percent (2,539 contracts) were traded on peak-load blocks and 25 percent (906 contracts) on base-load blocks. The average daily volume traded in the futures market is about 60,000 MWh, or roughly 160 contracts.

The volume of exchange-traded electricity in Germany has increased substantially due to the trading in futures. The volume of electricity traded at LPX and on the integrated spot and futures market at EEX amounted to some 2.7 terawatt hours (TWh) in March, as the exchange reported. About 75 percent (2 TWh) of the exchange-traded total in Germany for the month was posted in the integrated spot and futures market at EEX. This means that, relative to total German electricity consumption, five percent is already being traded through EEX. Together, the two electricity exchanges in Germany currently cover 6.5 percent of the average monthly electricity consumption.

"With futures trading on electricity, we've built up a new exchange-based market in Europe," as the two EEX Executive Board members Christian Geyer and Hans E. Schweickardt said. "With the ongoing development of trading know-how on the part of the energy sector, especially by industrial consumers and public utilities, futures trading will become established as an instrument that can be used to hedge against price risks and will further advance the liberalization of the German electricity market," as Geyer and
Schweickardt pointed out.

Twenty participants from three countries are currently trading on the EEX futures market. Participants can hedge their positions on the physical electricity market by trading futures on base load and peak load in the futures market. Trading in the futures market runs on the trading system of Eurex, the derivatives exchange.