Nymex Announces Launch Plans For Monthly, Weekly, And Daily PJM Electricity Futures Contracts

The board of directors of the New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc., last night approved launch plans for its three financially settled Pennsylvania/New Jersey/Maryland (PJM) electricity futures contracts, with the monthly contract scheduled to be introduced on April 11; the weekly contract to be introduced the afternoon of May 22 for the trade date of May 23; and the daily contracts to be introduced the afternoon of May 29 for the trade date of May 30.

The monthly contract will start with the June contract, with contracts listed through December 2003. It will be traded on the trading floor from 7:30 AM to 2:30 PM and from 3:15, Mondays through Thursdays to 7 AM the next day on NYMEX ClearPort^sm. On Sunday evenings, trading will begin at 7 PM.

The weekly and daily contracts will be traded from 7 PM, Sundays, and 3:15 PM, Mondays through Thursdays, until 2:30 the next day on the NYMEX Clearport^sm electronic trading platform. The weekly contract will begin with the week of June 2 through 6 as the first contract listed; June 2 will be the first daily contract listed.

The daily floating prices will be the arithmetic average of the PJM western hub locational marginal pricing for peak hours, provided by the PJM Interconnection, LLC. Peak hours are from 7 AM to 11 PM prevailing local time. Peak days are Monday through Friday, excluding North American Electric Reliability Council holidays.

The daily unit size for each contract will be 40 megawatt hours (Mwh). In the case of the monthly and weekly futures contracts, transaction sizes will be limited to whole number multiples of the number of peak days remaining in the contract period. Once the delivery period for the monthly contract begins, the balance of month will be traded exclusively on the NYMEX ClearPort^sm trading platform, with the same trading hours as the daily and weekly contracts.

For the monthly and weekly contracts, trading will end the business day before the last peak day of the period. For the daily contract, trading will cease on the business day after the peak day.

Exchange President J. Robert Collins, Jr., said, "The Exchange has worked closely with the electricity industry to develop a set of contracts that will combine the flexibility they seek with the liquidity and security those markets are currently lacking. Events over the last few years have clearly demonstrated the severe need that the electricity industry has for risk management tools and price transparency similar to those available and used by every other major energy market."