Tokyo Commodity Exchange To Launch Electricity Futures On September 17

The Tokyo Commodity Exchange announced today regulatory approval for electricity futures. TOCOM applied for a trial listing for futures contracts with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on March 27^th and it was announced in the official gazette dated April 25th.

The new electricity contracts are slated to commence trading on September 17th. The Exchange will simultaneously rename the Oil Market the “Energy Market”, with electricity futures one component.

Takamichi Hamada, CEO and President of TOCOM commented, “We intend to serve as a public utility service supporting the basis for Japan’s energy policy and carry out the public mission of a regulated exchange operator with transparent benchmark prices and opportunities for hedging on the new electricity futures market”.

Electricity Futures Contract Specifications

Contract Area	East Area Base Load	West Area Base Load	East Area Peak	West Area Peak
Type of Trading	Cash Settled Futures
Underlying	Average Price of JEPX^*1 Spot Market (Day-Ahead) for the Tokyo Area Base Load Price (0:00~24:00)	Average Price of JEPX^*1Spot Market (Day-Ahead) for the Kansai Area Base Load Price (0:00~24:00)	Average Price of JEPX ^*1 Spot Market(Day-Ahead) for the Tokyo Area Peak Load Price (8:00~20:00)	Average Price of JEPX^*1 Spot Market(Day-Ahead) for the Kansai Area Peak Load Price (8:00~20:00)
Contract Unit Contract base size: 0.1MWh	“Monthly Contract” Calendar days in month × 24hrs/day × 0.1MWh	“Monthly Contract” Calendar days in month × 24hrs/day × 0.1MWh	“Monthly contract” Weekdays in month × (specified by TOCOM) × 12hrs/day × 0.1MWh	“Monthly contract” Weekdays in month × (specified by TOCOM) × 12hrs/day × 0.1MWh
Minimum Tick Size	JPY 0.01 (per kWh)
Final Settlement Price	JEPX Spot Market (Day-Ahead) Tokyo Area Base Load monthly average price	JEPX Spot Market (Day-Ahead) Kansai Area Base Load monthly average price	JEPX Spot Market (Day-Ahead) Tokyo Area Peak Load monthly average price	JEPX Spot Market (Day-Ahead) Kansai Area Peak Load monthly average price
Contract Listed	Nearest 15 Months （e.g.）Contracts listed at the launch day(September 17, 2019) will include: September 2019, October 2019, November 2019, December 2019 January 2020, February 2020, March 2020, April 2020, May 2020, June 2020, July 2020, August 2020, September 2020, October 2020, November 2020
	The business day prior to the last day of the month	The business day prior to the last day of the month	The business day prior to the last weekday of each month	The business day prior to the last weekday of each month
Last Trading Day	Business day following the last trading day
Final Settlement Day	First business day of the following month
Trading Hours	Day Session: 8:45 to 15:15 / Evening Session: 16:30 to 19：00 *Single price auction is to be executed 4 times a day – opening and closing of day session and evening session. Trading method will be continuous trading during these sessions.