From 1 October 2011, Euro will be the official trading currency for the Nordic day-ahead market Elspot. It will still be possible for customers at Nord Pool Spot to submit orders and receive settlement in the Nordic currencies, as well as in Euro, as Nord Pool Spot will offer a currency service.
The change will result in a quicker price calculation and publication of prices. The change is also amongst others triggered by Nord Pool Spot’s preparing for price coupling with continental Europe, where all bids have to be firm in the first price run.
The change implies that Nord Pool Spot will convert orders from local currency to Euro only once, based on a preliminary exchange rate fetched from the bank as close as possible to gate closure. Bid matching and price calculation are then performed and prices in Euro and participant programs are regarded as firm. The currency hedging is then performed for the amounts in local currencies and the official settlement prices in NOK, SEK and DKK are calculated based on the final currency rate obtained when hedging.
For customers submitting orders and trading in Elspot in Euro, this change will have no effect. Customers who wish may still trade in Elspot in one of the Nordic currencies – NOK, SEK or DKK. Nord Pool Spot will offer a currency service, or an equivalent service can be chosen from any other financial institution.
Currency service
Nord Pool Spot will convert customer’s bids to Euro and get the settlement in local currency. The currency fee will be a factor of 0,0002 (i.e. 0.02%) on the amount in NOK, SEK or DKK exchanged for a customer per day. The fee compensates for the exposure and administration of Nord Pool Spot for handling the currency service. Customers who do not wish to use this service from Nord Pool Spot are free to handle conversion from local currency to EUR through their settlement bank or any other financial institution of their choice.
There are no technical changes required in our customers’ systems.
Nord Pool Spot will still publish official prices in NOK, SEK and DKK, as well as in Euro.
About Nord Pool Spot
Nord Pool Spot runs the leading power market in Europe and offers both day-ahead and intraday markets to its customers. 350 companies from 18 countries trade on the market. The Nord Pool Spot group has offices in Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Tallinn and London. In 2010 the group had a total turnover of 310 TWh, which includes the auction volume in the UK market N2EX.
Lysaker, 31 May 2011 16:35 CET
For further information, please contact Nord Pool Spot:
Stina Johansen, Communications manager Nordic, +47 916 50 603