#ECC: One central clearing for all Central Western Europe and UK power spot markets by end of March

The clearing for the power spot markets in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Belgium will be migrated from APX to European Commodity Clearing (ECC) on 31 March 2016. Thus all power spot markets operated by EPEX SPOT and its affiliates covering Central Western Europe (CWE) and the UK will benefit from one central clearing. The migration is subject to final testing and member readiness. The migration follows the announcement of the integration of APX and Belpex into the European Power Exchange EPEX SPOT in April 2015 and paves the way to harmonize power spot markets in CWE and the UK.

“We are happy to welcome 30 new members to ECC”, says Dr. Thomas Siegl, Chief Risk Officer of ECC. “Joining ECC will further secure their trading activities not only on the APX and Belpex markets, but also provide them access to the European network of ECC’s partner exchanges.”

Jean-François Conil-Lacoste, Chairman of the Management Board of EPEX SPOT, adds: “Clearing by ECC is a significant leap forward for our members active on the UK, Dutch and Belgian markets. We support the companies who need to become members of ECC during the entire process and do everything we can to make it as smooth as possible.”

While clearing historically has been carried out by APX itself for its markets, ECC has been the clearing house of EPEX SPOT since its inception. Clearing usually refers to the financial and physical settlement of trading transactions concluded or registered for clearing on EPEX SPOT: in its capacity as central counterparty, the clearing house then steps between buyer and seller, assuming the counterparty financial risk for each trading participant and conducting payment, delivery and settlement of all transactions. Currently, ECC assumes clearing services for power spot markets in Germany/Austria, France, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Serbia.

The European Power Exchange EPEX SPOT SE and its affiliates operate organized short-term electricity markets for Germany, France, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg; markets representing 50% of European electricity consumption. Striving for the well-functioning European single market for electricity, EPEX SPOT shares its expertise with partners across the continent and beyond. EPEX SPOT is a European company (Societas Europaea) in corporate structure and staff, based in Paris with offices or affiliates in Amsterdam, Bern, Brussels, Leipzig, London and Vienna. 286 companies have traded 566 TWh of electricity on EPEX SPOT and its affiliates in 2015. EPEX SPOT is member of EEX Group,
part of Deutsche Börse. European electricity transmission system operators hold 49% of EPEX SPOT through HGRT.

European Commodity Clearing (ECC) is the central clearing house for energy and related products in Europe. In its capacity as the central counterparty ECC assumes clearing as well as physical and financial settlement of transactions concluded on CEGH Gas Exchange of the Vienna Stock Exchange, EEX, EPEX SPOT, HUPX, Gaspoint Nordic, NOREXECO, Powernext, Power Exchange Central Europe and SEEPEX, or registered for clearing on these exchanges.

For more information: http://www.epexspot.com 

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