On 5 December 2014, this year’s last meeting of the Exchange Council of the European Energy Exchange (EEX) was held in Vienna. It was chaired by Peter Heydecker (Vitol SA). At the meeting, the results of the customer satisfaction survey for 2014 were presented and the introduction of new products on the power market was approved.
The aim of the survey, which was carried out for the first time in 2013, was to assess the products and services of EEX. At 96.8 percent, EEX was able to increase its customers’ general satisfaction against the previous year (2013: 93.9 percent). 28.2 percent of these customers stated that they were “very satisfied” with EEX. In particular, the development of the EEX offering on the Power Derivatives Market was assessed as being positive by 84 percent of the customers. As in the previous year, 96 percent of the customers indicated that they were “happy” or “very happy” with the service provided by Market Supervision. The members of the Exchange Council welcomed both the results of the most recent survey and the execution of the survey as such. In this way, the exchange reinforces the dialogue with its participants and supports them in continuously developing their product and service offering.
Furthermore, the Exchange Council approved the introduction of new products on the Power Derivatives Market. The existing Trade Registration offering for Swiss and Spanish Power Futures will be expanded with order book trading for these markets on the exchange. This will also permit the execution of trading in price differences between these and their neighbouring markets (so-called “Inter-Product Spreads”). These products are to be introduced simultaneously with the launch of trading in Power Futures for Scandinavia.
Furthermore, the Exchange Council approved the introduction of Day and Weekend Futures for the Italian, French and Spanish Derivatives Markets. “With these additional maturities, the exchange fulfils the participants’ wish for more trading opportunities on these strongly growing markets”, explains Peter Heydecker. “This makes the markets more attractive – also for companies that are not active in these regions yet.” The introduction of the new products and maturities on the Power Derivatives Market is to be effected step-by-step, in the first quarter of 2015.
In addition, a concept for the introduction of so-called “Flexibility Products” was presented to the Exchange Council. In view of the growing feed-in of renewable energies into the power market, EEX is currently evaluating Derivatives Market products which will support the plant operators in hedging against intraday price risks in the long run. The concept is intended to provide market participants with further tools to avoid risks arising from an imbalance between generation and consumption.
The Exchange Council of EEX is an official body of the exchange under the German Exchange Act. It consists of a total of 24 members who expertly represent the various relevant interest groups and business circles. In addition to the trading participants, 19 elected members from five different voting groups, four representatives from associations and one representative of energy science are members. The tasks of the Exchange Council include the formulation of the rules and regulations of the exchange and their amendments. The Exchange Council is also tasked with the supervision of the Management Board of the Exchange and the appointment of the Head of the Market Surveillance.