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Belpex is a power exchange for anonymous, cleared, short term trading in electricity, providing the market with a transparent reference price. Belpex’ market is called the Belpex Spot Market and is composed of 2 Market Segments:

• Belpex Day Ahead Market Segment (“Belpex DAM”)
• Belpex Continuous Intraday Market Segment (“Belpex CIM”)

The Belpex DAM provides standardized products (hourly instruments) for producers, distributors, industrial groups, traders and brokers to sell and purchase electricity to be delivered the day after.

The prices for electricity on the Belgian DAM are determined via a double-sided blind auction. The Belpex DAM is coupled to the APX Power NL market and the EPEX Spot day-ahead markets in Germany and France. The fixing process is based on the Market Coupling Auction Algorithm, which matches, according to the merit of the orders, not only the purchase and sales orders submitted on the Belpex DAM but, within the limits of the interconnection capacity made available by the system operators of the concerned markets, also the purchase and sales orders submitted on EPEX Spot and APX. These prices are also known as market clearing prices and are quoted in €/MWh. These clearing prices will be published daily on the Belpex website. Furthermore, these hourly market prices and volumes are used as a basis for the calculation of the Belpex DAM indices which are published as well on the website.

The characteristics of the Belpex DAM can be summarized as follow:

• Anonymous trading
• Delivery on the Belgian hub via the Elia nomination system (Elia being the Belgian transmission system operator)
• One hourly trading periods and contracts
• Standard order book Gate Closure
• Short term, physical trading (e.g. via limit orders, block orders)
• Fixing of contracts via a double-sided blind auction
• Clearing and settlement facilities provided by central Counterparty

For more information please refer to the Belpex DAM product sheet

The Belpex CIM provides standardized products (hourly and multi hourly instruments) for producers, distributors, industrial groups, traders and brokers to sell and purchase electricity on a continuous basis, and this up to 5 minutes before delivery.

The characteristics of the Belpex CIM can be summarized as follow:

• Anonymous trading
• Contract creation through continuous trading
• Delivery on the Belgian hub via the Elia nomination system (Elia being the Belgian transmission system operator)
• Standard 1 hour products and freely definable blocks
• Instuments available for trading as from 14:00 the tradingday prior to delivery until 5 minutes before delivery
• Market segment open 365 days/year, 24 hours/day
• Clearing and settlement facilities provided by central Counterparty

For more information please refer to the Belpex CIM product sheet

 

The CIM is coupled with the Dutch intraday market operated by APX. Please read this memo for detailed information about the Cross Border Intraday (XBID) BE-NL solution.

In order to guarantee anonymity and financial security, all the contracts concluded on the Belpex Spot Market are cleared and settled by a thereto designated central counterparty. Belpex has designated APX as central counterparty.

The central counterparty handles cash management arising from the contracts concluded by the participants on the Belpex Spot Market and guarantees the execution of the financial obligations arising from such contracts.

In order to secure financial transactions, Belpex participants must deposit the necessary collateral (cash or bank guarantee) in euros before they can start trading. The deposited collateral protects the central counterparty and thus the other participants on the Belpex Spot Market against the default of payment by a participant.

Settlement is based on the volumes stipulated in the concluded contracts and the market clearing prices. Following contract creation on the trading platform, Belpex transmits the contract data to the central counterparty which then calculates the net amount payable or receivable by each participant for the day's trading. These amounts, which constitute the unrealized settlements, are accrued until the actual invoicing/self-billing by Belpex.

Belpex will invoice participant-buyers on a weekly basis, while participant-sellers will receive self-bills. Invoices and self-bills include the commissions due to Belpex (which also cover the clearing and settlement services rendered by the central counter party) and VAT (if any). Payments corresponding to the invoices and self-bills are ultimately made the day immediately following the day of invoicing/self-billing.

The Belpex clearing structure provides for a strong protection of the interests of participants.

The electricity purchased and sold on the Belpex Spot Market is exchanged on the Belgian hub via the Elia nomination system. This means that a participant of the Belpex Spot Market needs to be an Access Responsible Party in Belgium or needs to have designated an Access Responsible Party in order to nominate the traded electricity. In order to ensure anonymity amongst participants, Belpex performs the necessary counter nominations for each participant with regard to the electricity traded by that participant on the market segments of the Belpex Spot Market. Ultimately, supply of the electricity is guaranteed through acceptance of the nominations by Elia. However, this is without prejudice to the measures that Elia can take in order to safeguard the security of the Belgian transmission grid.