In response to the “Outline of Electricity Supply-Demand Measures in Summer Time (Draft)” announcement on April 8, 2011 by the Electricity Supply-Demand Emergency Response Headquarters, the Tokyo Grain Exchange Inc. (“TGE”) and Tokyo Commodity Exchange, Inc. (“TOCOM”) have examined the effects of electricity demand control and power outage measures in TOCOM’s building and data center which houses TOCOM’s electronic platform that TGE is using, to prepare for a possible shortage of electricity supply this summer in the service area of the Tokyo Electric Power Company.
As a result, TGE will take the following measures to curtail demand for electricity and in the event of an unexpected power outage to prevent disorder in the market operations. We ask for the understanding and cooperation of all concerned parties regarding this matter.
Please also note that such measures are subject to change based on government policy.
1. Measures for the electricity demand control and power outage in this summer
TGE will implement the following measures in response to curb electricity demand and in the event of a power outage.
a) Electricity demand control
It is confirmed that NTT Data which houses the trading platform’s data center will reach peak-period reduction targets set for large-scale utility users through reduced usage of air-conditioning, lighting, and other energy saving measures and by the operation of independent power generation facilities.
b) Electrical outage measures
In the event of an unexpected power outage, the trading system that we are using is capable of uninterrupted operation through the usage of power supplied from the data center’s independent power generation facilities and the uninterruptible power systems (UPS).
Independent power generation equipment and an UPS will ensure business continuity for TOCOM’s office building. In the event of prolonged power outage, system operators located in our building will continue business operations from the data center.
2. Market management policy for summer 2011
As an exchange listing internationally traded commodities, TGE has the responsibility to provide continuous market access in order to fulfill its price discovery functions for our market participants as well as to maintain price correlation with foreign markets
Therefore, business operations will continue as normal without changes to the trading hours.
The government policy it to not adopt rolling blackouts this summer, however depending on the electricity supply and demand capacity conditions and unforeseen power outage may occur. In this event a decision will be made by the Exchange, following careful consideration, in accordance with the “Contingency Plan for Cases Including System Failure (CP)”. The Exchange will reopen the market when it determines that the continuity of transactions can be established, even during the session where outage occurrs.
Please note that this reopening process differs from the previous notice dated March 18, titled “Exchange Response in Case of Unpredictable, Large-Scale Blackout”, under which the suspension is effective for the entire session (ie. day session or night session) where the outage occurs.