EEX: Trading Fees Waived For The Spot Market - Small And Medium-Size Companies Will Gain Access To Attractive Platform For Electricity Trading - More Than 30 Companies Prepare For The EEX Spot Market

EEX, the European Energy Exchange, is waiving a large part of the fees for trading on the spot market for the year 2000, as the company announced at the general meeting on Wednesday. The fee waiver includes the annual fee for the spot market, the transaction fees for trading as well as the costs for the basic technical equipment and the connection to the Xetra trading system. The one-time admission fee at EEX is not affected by the fee waiver.

"The EEX products are being developed together with the market participants and tailored to the specific needs of the German market. By waiving the fees this year, we are further enhancing the attractiveness of our spot market. This measure will make it easier, especially for small and medium-size companies, to decide in favor of trading on EEX," as EEX Executive Board members Christian Geyer and Hans E. Schweickardt explained. "Their participation provides for additional liquidity in trading at EEX."

More than 30 market participants who are currently preparing for the launch of the EEX spot market, will be able to trade electricity for the next day. It will be possible to trade blocks and individual hours on the spot market. Blocks can be traded continuously for base loads and peak loads. Individual hours are traded in an intraday auction. Peak-load blocks cover the period between 8:00 am and 10:00 pm, Mondays through Fridays (except holidays), and base-load blocks, the period between midnight and midnight on the following day, daily. The spot market will be launched in August, the derivatives market in the fourth quarter.