In 2014, 6.117 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity and of natural gas for end customers were traded on the floor of the Czech Moravian Commodity Exchange Kladno (CMKBK) for a total amount of 4.986 billion Czech crowns. The volume of contracted energy increased y-o-y by 32.3%.
In terms of an increase in contracting last year’s trading had two peaks – one in July, during which 980,000 MWh of energy with a value of 757 million Czech crowns were traded, and the other in the first two months of the fourth quarter, during which 2,789,000 MWh worth 2.288 billion Czech crowns were contracted for. This significant increase contributed to the the 4th quarter in terms of its volume of 2,816,000 MWh of energies with a value of 2.309 billion Czech crowns becoming the strongest trading quarter during a five-year period of the existence of this market. At the same time the monthly record set in October 2013 was surpassed last November, during which total contracting of 1,694,000 MWh worth 1.424 billion Czech crowns was achieved.
Out of the total annual balance the trading in natural gas represented more than 3.5 million MWh (cca. 60%), while the trading in electricity amounted to 2.6 million MWh (40%). In financial terms, the ratio is balanced and represents 2.557 billion Czech crowns for the power electricity, i.e. 51% of the total value of the contracts, and 2.429 billion Czech crowns (49%) for the natural gas.
“Since conservative estimates ranged between 5 and 5 and a half million megawatt hours, last year’s balance was above our expectations. The 6,000,000 MWh result demonstrates the accelerating interest both of the companies and of the public sector in this market,” stated Pavel Štorkán, Chairman of the CMKBK Exchange Chamber.
In comparison with the year 2013 the number of registered participants trading in energy on the floor of the CMKBK increased by 22 per cent to 5,181 entities. The interest of public contracting authorities was also growing dynamically, while in addition to all the Ministries and the vast majority of the Regions, hundreds of municipalities and thousands of organisations established by them also found their way onto the CMKBK energy market. Commodity exchange purchase as a form of implementation of public procurement is enabled for the State Government and for the Regions and Municipalities through the Public Procurement Act, whereby this method enables the acquisition of energies more flexibly and rapidly and also transparently, safely and with greater cost savings than other types of selection procedures.
The price development of the electricity and natural gas that is supplied to final customers
Last year the developments in the prices of traded energy copied the development trends in the wholesale market and the Czech crown’s exchange rate against the Euro. Based on a comparison of the price averages during the final quarters the results indicate that prices of all the traded energies decreased year-on-year.
The price of power electricity supplied from low-voltage grids decreased on the CMKBK by 1.8% to CZK 989 per MWh, while the price of power electricity supplied from high-voltage grids decreased by 0.3% to CZK 981 per MWh. At the same time, in the low consumption mode the price of natural gas decreased by 7.3% to CZK 684 per MWh and in the high consumption mode by 6.2% to CZK 668 per MWh.
At the beginning of the year energy prices were significantly influenced by the intervention of the Czech National Bank that was implemented with the intent of weakening the value of the Czech crown against the Euro. The price of power electricity supplied from low-voltage grids for delivery in 2015 gradually decreased from its opening rate of CZK 1,095 per MWh to a value of CZK 909 per MWh during the 17th calendar week. In May and June the price remained below CZK 1,000 per MWh (in a range of CZK 936-983 per MWh). It was not until the beginning of July after which it again crossed the CZK 1,000 boundary and with the exception of a single fluctuation it oscillated at around this level throughout Q3 (in the range between CZK 955 and 1,059 per MWh). October again brought about a new decline in prices to below CZK 1,000 per MWh, which lasted until mid-November. The end of the year did bring an increase in prices with a closing price at the level of CZK 1,061 per MWh.
The price of natural gas in the low consumption mode, for delivery in 2015, also reached its highest annual values in January (i.e. CZK 738 per MWh). After that it slowly decreased again to below CZK 700 per MWh and remained at that level until early August. Between the 34th and the 40th calendar weeks the price ranged between CZK 706 and 728 per MWh, while in October it again recorded a decrease to a range of between CZK 666 and 699 per MWh. The closing price was 683 CZK per MWh.
At the end of 2009 the CMKBK opened-up the market in electricity to end customers and the natural gas market in mid-2010. By the end of 2014 the cumulative balance of trade in this market already represented cca. 22.5 thousand of the contracts concluded for the total supply of nearly 17.5 million megawatt hours of electricity and gas with a value of almost 15 billion Czech crowns.
