Final reminder of changes in weekend assessments

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

The change will take effect trade date Friday, September 2.

Under the change, Platts will 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 making 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 change will 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 will also 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 will 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 will expand that flexibility to include instances in which traded weekend packages are structured to avoid splitting a package between two months.

For questions, please contact Mike Wilczek at mike_wilczek@platts.com with a cc to pricegroup@platts.com.