The organization of a power exchange in Belgium is governed by the Royal Decree of October 20th, 2005, on the establishment and the organization of a Belgian market for the exchange of electricity blocks.
The Royal Decree stipulates that, as a prerequisite to operating a power exchange, a license must be obtained from the Minister of Energy. License candidates must show that their shareholder structure, management structure, administrative organization and financial organization meet the requirements set out in the Royal Decree.
Belpex has obtained its license as power market operator on January 11th, 2006
The Royal Decree stipulates further that the market operator must establish Market Rules for its market and submit those for approval to the Minister of Energy.
Belpex has established the Market Rules for its Spot Market . The rules indicate the conditions that must be met to be admitted to the Belpex Spot Market, the obligations incumbent upon both the participants of the Spot Market and Belpex, as well as the general principles in respect of market operations, order submission, fixing and dispute settlement.
The current version of Market Rules was approved on December 20th, 2007.
The Belpex Market Rules are further implemented in a set of Market Procedures and Communications:
- Admission and Access Procedure, which sets out the detailed conditions to be fulfilled to become a Participant of the Belpex Spot Market;
- Fee, Invoicing and VAT Procedure which contains the different fees related to the Belpex Spot Market, as well as the invoicing rules and the VAT application;
- User Procedure, which contains a detailed description of all activities related to and the information relevant for trading on the Belpex Spot Market;
- Market Segment Procedure, which provides detailed information about the different Market Segments of the Belpex Spot Market;
- Communications, which are binding announcements made by Belpex to its Participants in the situations as identified in the Market Rules or in the Market Procedures.
To be able to trade on the Market Segments of the Belpex Spot Market, an interested party must enter into a (Indirect) Participation Agreement with Belpex. Both the Market Rules and Market Procedures are part of this (Indirect) Participation Agreement.
An interested party must also enter into a Participation Agreement CSS (“Clearing and Settlement Services”) with APX, who will organize the clearing and settlement of the contracts concluded on the Belpex Spot Market.
Finally, in order to deliver the electricity traded on the Belpex Market, an interested party or a third party designated by him, must enter into an Access Responsible Party-Contract with Elia, the Transmission System Operator.
A copy of the above-mentioned documents can be obtained by clicking on one of the links below.
If you would have any question in relation to these documents please do not hesitate to contact the Belpex Account Manager, Mr. Rob Loos:
T +32 2 546 7057
Royal Decree
Koninklijk besluit van 20 oktober 2005 met betrekking tot de oprichting en de organisatie van een Belgische markt voor de uitwisseling van energieblokken; Arrêté royal du 20 octobre 2005 relatif à la création et à l’organisation d’un marché belge d’échange de blocs d’énergie. (“Royal Decree of October 20th, 2005, on the establishment and the organization of a Belgian market for the exchange of energy blocks”; only available in Dutch and French)
License
Ministerieel besluit van 11 januari 2006 betreffende de erkenning van de n.v. Belpex als marktbeheerder voor de uitwisseling van energieblokken; Arrêté ministériel du 11 janvier 2006 portant agrément de la s.a. Belpex en qualité de gestionnaire d’un marché d’échange de blocs d’énergie.(“Ministerial Decree of January 11th, 2006, licensing Belpex n.v. as the operator of market for the exchange of energy blocks”; only available in Dutch and French)
(Indirect) Participation Agreement
- Participation Agreement (version 13 March 2008)
- Indirect Participation Agreement (version 13 March 2008)
- Market rules
- Ministerieel besluit van 11 januari 2006 tot goedkeuring van het marktreglement voor de uitwisseling van energieblokken, zoals gewijzigd op 19 februari 2010; Arrêté ministériel portant approbation du règlement de marché d’échange de blocs d’énergie, comme modifié le 19 février 2010. (Official version of the Market Rules published in the Belgian Gazette; only available in Dutch and French)
- Ministerial Decree of January 11th, 2006, on the approval of the market rules for the exchange of energy blocs as amended on 19 Februari, 2010.
- Admission and Access Procedure (version 13 March 2008)
- Fee, Invoicing and VAT Procedure (version 30 April 2010)
- User Procedure (version 30 April 2010)
- Market Segment Procedure (version 30 April 2010)
- Annex 1 TLC Algorithm (version 13 March 2008)
- Annex 2 Local Matching Algorithm (version 13 March 2008)
- Communications:
Participation Agreement CSS
Access Responsible Party Contract
Please visit the Elia website to consult the standard Access Responsible Party Contract: www.elia.be
Version history
(Indirect) Participation Agreement
- Participation Agreement (version 13 March 2008)
- Indirect Participation Agreement (version 13 March 2008)
- Market rules
- Ministerieel besluit van 11 januari 2006 tot goedkeuring van het marktreglement voor de uitwisseling van energieblokken, zoals gewijzigd op 20 december 2007; Arrêté ministériel portant approbation du règlement de marché d’échange de blocs d’énergie, comme modifié le 20 décembre 2007. (Official version of the Market Rules published in the Belgian Gazette; only available in Dutch and French)
- Ministerial Decree of January 11th, 2006, on the approval of the market rules for the exchange of energy blocs as amended on December 20th , 2007.
- Admission and Access Procedure (version 13 March 2008)
- Fee, Invoicing and VAT Procedure (version 13 March 2008)
- User Procedure (version 13 March 2008)
- Market Segment Procedure (version 13 March 2008)
- Annex 1 TLC Algorithm (version 13 March 2008)
- Annex 2 Local Matching Algorithm (version 13 March 2008)