| ©ICIS HEREN - Hungarian exchange rivalry sparks licence war |
| 2010-05-27 |
| The Hungarian Energy Office (MEH) has come under fire from Austrian power exchange EXAA and Prague-based bourse Power Exchange Central Europe (PXE) for undermining free-trade rules to "defend the interests of Hungary's domestic companies". The two exchanges launched a Hungarian spot market earlier this month in a bid to boost liquidity and move closer towards an integrated regional power market. But the launch of the new platform this week raised eyebrows in Hungary, which is looking to start a similar platform in July pioneered by MAVIR, the grid operator, set to rival the operations of the Austrian-backed bourse (see EDEM 17 May 2010). As the EXAA launched on Monday, the Hungarian Energy Office posted a statement on its website, claiming that it is initiating an investigation into the cooperation between PXE and EXAA, and insisted that PXE provide information to support the legality of its licence to operate the market. PXE and EXAA replied on Wednesday, insisting that any suspension of the validity of the licence would not fall under the jurisdiction of the Hungarian regulator. They further said that PXE organises its market trades based on a licence issued by the Czech ministry of trade and industry and the Czech national bank. "Thanks to the existing of European legislation, PXE does not require a licence from any other country in the EU to conduct business," PXE said in a statement released on Wednesday. "In spite of this fact, PXE requested that MEH provide it with a local licence to be an organiser on the spot market. Unfortunately, our intention has not met with a sense of understanding on the Hungarian side, and despite the fact that MEH is given 90 days to make a decision on the issuing of the licence, the whole process has been protracted by the Hungarian regulator since last year." PXE and EXAA said they wanted to launch the Hungarian platform because central and eastern European markets are relatively small and it would not pay off to have separate exchanges in each country. They added: "We perceive the activity of the MEH as a step which is contrary to the interests of every national regulator. These interests should entail defending the interests of the domestic market, as opposed to the interests of domestic companies and particularly defending the interests of the domestic consumer." In reply, a spokesman for MEH said there was only one energy exchange that could fully operate on the Hungarian energy market [the Hungarian platform which will be launched in July], while any other companies have limited licences. He said senior MEH officers could explain the matter in more detail, although none of the persons indicated were available for comment as ICIS Heren went to press. Hungarian traders have told ICIS Heren that they believed EXAA's platform was not very transparent. However, several said that as the MEH objected to more than one operator in the Hungarian market, the spot should be HUPX's remit while forward contracts should be dealt with by PXE. Some traders polled by ICIS Heren in April said that HUPX, the Hungarian-based exchange expected to be launched in July, would be a more attractive option as it would levy low transaction costs. But PXE and EXAA insist that their platform is more attractive from a price point of view. The HUPX platform is expected to have the support of EPEX Spot, the regional spot exchange for France, Germany and Switzerland (see EDEM 29 April 2010). However, the exchange, has suffered numerous licence-related delays, which meant that the launch had been put back several times (see EDEM 5 January 2009). (THE ICIS HEREN REPORTS - EDEM 14.095 / 19 May 2010) |
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