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In the course of its last meeting this year on 5 December 2007, the exchange council of the European Energy Exchange (EEX) elected a new chairman. Dr. Günther Rabensteiner, chairman of the managing board of VERBUND-Austrian Power Trading AG, was elected unanimously and without a rival candidate. Dr. Rabensteiner, who has been a member of the exchange council since April 2003, boasts long-standing experience in the organisation and development of energy trading and its regulatory environment. Dr. Rabensteiner, who is Austrian, succeeds Dr. Jacques Piasko from Switzerland, who has served two terms of office as the chairman of the exchange council ever since the establishment of the council. Piasko will leave the exchange council as of the end of the year because of his retirement from the position of a member of the managing board and Chief Power Sales & Trading of EGL AG. The exchange council, the managing board of the exchange and the ex-change supervisory authority have expressly praised Mr. Piasko’s achievements as well as his long-standing personal commitment; moreover, Mr. Piasko has always ful-filled the expectations entailed in his appointment with a lot of dedication and enthusi-asm. He has made a decisive contribution to the development of the exchange market of EEX.
Concept for “European Governance Structures“
Against the backdrop of the strategy pursued by the exchange towards a leading role in Europe, the exchange council has commissioned its compliance committee to develop a concept with regard to the question of how the tried and tested structures and, in par-ticular, the integration of the trading participants in the decision-making processes on the exchange can be maintained and developed further also with regard to the future. This regulatory system should correspond to the current structure of EEX under public law in terms of both quality and transparency.
Consolidation of the Spot Trading System
On 17 March 2008, EEX will introduce the possibility of quoting negative prices in the hourly auction regarding power. A migration of the auction from Xetra to a trading sys-tem developed on the basis of the intra-day trading system is planned in connection with the introduction of this option. This will facilitate simplified and uniform access to all Spot Market products listed in this system.
Market Coupling with Scandinavia
The joint project group consisting of the three transmission system operators of ener-gienet.dk, E.ON Netz GmbH and Vattenfall Transmission GmbH and the two ex-changes of Nord Pool Spot and EEX are planning to launch day-ahead market coupling as of the end of the 2nd quarter of the year 2008. Essential preconditions for this launch are the registration and incorporation of the European Market Coupling Com-pany in due time, the introduction and commissioning of the appertaining IT systems as well as the introduction of weekend trading on EEX.
Presentation of the results established by the Federal and State Government Working Group regarding the “Improvement of Market Transparency in Power Wholesales, Pricing on EEX”
The representative of the exchange supervisory authority presented the report by the Federal and State Government Working Group regarding the “Improvement of Market Transparency in Power Wholesales, Pricing on EEX” on the occasion of the Confer-ence of the Ministers of Economic Affairs of the Federal States on 19/20 November 2007. In this report, the transparency initiative by EEX was acknowledged in detail and the role of the exchange council, which regularly deals with the topic of the improve-ment of transparency in its meetings, was emphasized. In this context, VIK Verband der Industriellen Energie- und Kraftwirtschaft e.V. [German Association of the Energy and Power Supply Industry, registered association] has once again announced that it will ask its members to participate in the publication of power plant data in the frame-work of the EEX transparency initiative.
The exchange council of EEX is a body of the exchange defined in the German stock exchange act. It consists of in total 23 members that adequately represent the different interest groups and business circles on the exchange: In addition to 18 representatives of the trading participants (domestic as well as foreign transmission system operators – power trading companies, municipal utilities and regional suppliers, brokers and finan-cial service providers as well as commercial consumers) elected from within various groups, four representatives of major associations (German Association of the Energy and Power Supply Industry, registered association (VIK), Federation of German Con-sumer Organisations, registered association (vzbv), German Association of Energy and Water Industries, registered association (BDEW) and the Federation of German Indus-tries, registered association (BDI)) and Prof. Wolfgang Pfaffenberger, the investors’ representative, are members of the council.
