On 6 January 2009, shortly after the distribution of the Elspot results, Nord Pool Spot was notified by Dong Energy that they had not received their Elspot results for 7 January. From further dialogue and review of the trading system logs, it was established that a mistake had unfortunately been made by Dong Energy when submitting their bid in SESAM.
Shortly thereafter Nord Pool Spot concluded, pursuant to the current Elspot Rulebook, that a recalculation of the Elspot prices was not an option. This conclusion was communicated to Dong Energy. Pursuant to the Rulebook, a distinction is made between mistakes made by Nord Pool Spot and mistakes made by the participant(s). The Rulebook provides for a recalculation of prices in events of mistakes made by Nord Pool Spot, and not mistakes made by participants.
Further investigations proved that the bid submitted by Dong Energy was empty, i.e. the bid did not contain any values. The bid was not detected in the system’s logical check. Neither was the bid detected in the manual checks carried out at the Nord Pool Spot trading desk.
DONG Energy was in dialogue with Nord Pool Spot during the day regarding the incident. The incident was made public by Dong Energy as an urgent market message (UMM) at 15.36 CET as required according to Nord Pool Spot regulations. Nord Pool Spot acknowledges that this was late, and will seek to ensure that the market is informed at an earlier stage should similar incidents occur in the future.
The responsibility for the correctness of their bids lies with the participants. Nord Pool Spot does however wish to contribute to minimising the risk of errors to the extent possible. After the incident, Nord Pool Spot has focused on minimising the risk of similar mistakes, and has made the following action list:
- Evaluation of the Rulebook, focusing on complaints and recalculation of prices;
- Improvement of the logical checks in the trading system; and
- Evaluation and improvement of internal routines for controlling of bids, handling of erroneous bids and ensuring timely information to the market.
Lysaker, 30 January 2009
For further information, please contact Nord Pool Spot:
Åsmund Drivenes, acting director trading, phone +47 6752 8036, [email protected]