EEX Derivatives Market Starts In First Quarter 2001 - Enlarged Group Of Participants Through Trading In Derivatives Products On Electricity - Two Futures On Base Load And Peak Load

Derivatives trading in electricity at the European Energy Exchange (EEX) will begin in the first quarter of 2001, as the company announced in Frankfurt on Wednesday. The two futures contracts will be based on the electricity indices for base-load and peak-load blocks that EEX calculates and publishes as of December 11, and will have terms of one to 18 months. Trading will be carried out on the Eurex trading system, which is also used by Eurex, the world's leading derivatives exchange. Trading hours will be from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

"We built up the main market for electricity in Germany with our spot market in record time," as the two EEX Executive Board members Christian Geyer and Hans E. Schweickardt pointed out. "Based on this success, we will also establish derivatives trading in electricity in Germany."

EEX is expecting the group of participants to expand again considerably when the derivatives market is launched. According to EEX, the derivatives market is also attractive for participants outside the energy sector who want to expand their business activities with trading in electricity futures. There are currently 29 participants from six countries trading in the spot market who essentially come under the heading of energy producers and consumers as well as energy trading. Roughly 1.5 million megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity have been traded at EEX since the spot market was launched on August 8.