NYMEX Board Votes To List Electricity Contracts For Daytime Electronic Trading Session

The board of directors of the New York Mercantile Exchange last night unanimously voted to list the Exchange's five sets of electricity futures and options contracts for both daytime and overnight trading on the NYMEX ACCESS® electronic trading system. The board also voted to create a wholly owned, for-profit subsidiary. Pending designation of that subsidiary by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as a contract market, it is intended to become the forum for electricity trading as well as electronic trading of other potential new markets both within and outside the energy and metals industries. Exchange Chairman Daniel Rappaport said, "The enhanced NYMEX ACCESS® system, which will be introduced next week, has given us the opportunity to offer the electricity industry a unique forum for trading which combines the advantages of the Exchange's market and systems expertise and financial and credit safeguards with the specialized and regionalized needs of the evolving electricity market and the distinctive demands of that industry. The new subsidiary creates an exciting new business opportunity for the Exchange and its members to extend these advantages to new markets." The Exchange's five sets of electricity contracts are based on delivery at the following locations: The California-Oregon border (COB), Palo Verde, Arizona, Into the Cinergy transmission system, Into the Entergy transmission system, The western hub of the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland (PJM) interconnection. Mr. Rappaport said that the intention is to introduce the extended hours on the system (which currently offers a three-hour evening session for Palo Verde, COB, Cinergy and Entergy futures) very shortly, "certainly no later than early in the first quarter of 2000." He also said that current plans call for the contract to be traded from 4 PM, Mondays through Thursdays until 2:15 PM the following day. On Sunday evenings, trading will begin at 7:00 PM.