Liquidity in Greek electricity futures on the European energy exchange EEX increased in December, with trading volume in the final quarter reaching the highest level in 2022.
The volume of trade was 221 GWh last month, which is about 21 GWh more than in November. Thus, in the fourth quarter, the exchange volume reached 645 GWh, which is about 294 GWh more compared to the third quarter.
Volume remained lower than in 2021, although the deficit narrowed to 481 GWh in December from 1.1 TWh in November. Despite this, trading volume in the fourth quarter of 2022 was 8.9 TWh below liquidity in the same period of 2021.
At the end of August, the Greek government adopted a new law that obliges electricity suppliers to publish their retail electricity prices for the following month by the 20th of the current month. This exposes suppliers to the risk of misjudging price movements.
Greece’s forward month contract was the most liquid in the fourth quarter, with volume totaling 505 GWh.
The 2023 contract also attracted interest during the fourth quarter, totaling close to 53 GWh, supported by annual cross-border capacity auctions on the Yao platform in November and December. At the Greek-Italian borders, both routes were sold at a historically high price for 2023.
Despite the increase in the fourth quarter, Greek futures liquidity was well below 2021 levels, with total 2022 trading volume reaching around 2 TWh, up from 16.6 TWh a year earlier. This was influenced by high initial margin payments, market volatility and regulatory uncertainty.
Source: argusmedia.com
