Proposed change in several weekend off-peak assessments

In the North American electricity market, Platts is proposing to change the methodology for its off-peak weekend assessments for South MAPP, North SPP and five trading hubs in the Southeast: VACAR, Into Southern, Florida, Into Entergy and Into TVA.

Under the proposed change, Platts would formulate its off-peak weekend assessments for these seven locations based on transactions traded Friday for delivery during off-peak hours Saturday through Monday, known as 3x8 packages.

Platts is proposing the change because 3x8 packages now constitute a clear majority of standard bilateral off-peak weekend trades in these markets. Currently, off-peak weekend assessments in these markets are formulated based on 2x8 packages traded Friday for delivery during off-peak hours Saturday and Sunday.

The proposed change would bring the methodology for these off-peak weekend assessments in line with the current practice for off-peak weekend assessments in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which are based on 3x8 packages.

Platts is also proposing to change its methodology for these points to reflect how weekend packages (both on-peak and off-peak) are traded to prevent such packages from including the end of one month and the beginning of the next month. When a weekend straddles two months, Platts assessments would reflect the prevailing market practice for the alignment of weekend packages.

Platts' current methodology already has the flexibility to reflect the market practice of altering standard weekend packages to accommodate holidays. This change would expand that flexibility to include instances where traded weekend packages are structured to avoid splitting a package between two months.

Please submit comments or questions by July 18 to mike_wilczek@platts.com with a cc to pricegroup@platts.com.