The electricity trading volume is outperforming results both from the time of the initial euphoria after the launch of PXE in mid-2007 as well as last year's results. Last year, 30.37 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity were traded on PXE. “Thanks to the interconnection with the Leipzig-based EEX, we have added around thirty new traders,” Prague Energy Exchange General Secretary David Kučera told Euro.cz, adding that the magical 100 billion kWh mark is realistic next year.
Interest in trading grew gradually. While in January traders sold just slightly over one billion kWh to each other, by November it was already 11.5 billion. Interest is driven by uncertainty in the energy sector, which is reflected in rising electricity prices. On PXE, electricity is not traded with physical delivery, but with financial settlement. It therefore serves mainly as a “hedge” for power companies and traders against future energy price developments. In addition to the cooperation with the Leipzig Energy Exchange, the growth in trading volume is also driven by geographical expansion. This year, for the first time, PXE traded more electricity with delivery in Hungary (20 billion kWh) than with delivery in the Czech Republic (less than 17 billion kWh). The Romanian and Slovak markets each provided five billion kWh of business. The exchange has not yet been able to launch the planned trading in Polish electricity, but Kučera said a change for the better could come next year.
David Kučera, the head of PXE, admits that the entry into the natural gas exchange market has been slower so far. However, the exchange managed to surpass last year's trading volume (3.11 billion kWh) and the result as of 21 December exceeded 4.1 billion kWh. Unlike electricity, these are trades accompanied by physical delivery of the commodity, and PXE focuses exclusively on the domestic Czech market.
PXE's most recent activity is brokering electricity and gas purchases for end users. In practice, ministries, regions, cities, public enterprises and hospitals are most often involved, while private companies rarely purchase energy in this way. PXE competes here with the Kladno ČMKBK exchange, which has long dominated this market. Power Exchange Central Europe (abbreviated as PXE) was established in March 2007 as a subsidiary of the Prague Stock Exchange, with the first trades taking place in July of the same year. Last May, a two-thirds stake in PXE was bought and taken over by the German energy exchange EEX. It is currently the largest trading venue for electricity transactions in the world.