Platts proposes additions, discontinuance for US forward electricity assessments

Platts is proposing to add four locations to its daily assessments of North American forward electricity markets and to discontinue one location.

The four proposed additions to The Platts-ICE Forward Curve -- Electricity (North America) are ERCOT North, ERCOT Houston and ERCOT West, and Mead. The proposed discontinuance is the Into TVA location.

Please send any comments via e-mail to mike_wilczek@platts.com by January 15, 2010.

The three ERCOT locations correspond to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas' congestion zones. Platts currently assesses day-ahead markets at the three locations, and the location descriptions for the forward assessments would be the same as for the day-ahead assessments.

Assessments for the additional ERCOT locations would include the same packages as existing assessments in Central markets: Daily on-peak and off-peak assessments would be formulated for the prompt month, second month, third month, balance-of-the-year in seasonal or single-month packages, two full years in seasonal or single-month packages and four calendar years.

The fourth proposed addition is Mead, a delivery point in the Western Electricity Coordinating Council, located near Lake Mead in Nevada. Platts currently assesses the day-ahead market at Mead, and the location description for the Mead forward assessment would be the same as for the day-ahead assessment. Assessments for Mead would include the same packages as existing assessments in Western markets: Daily on-peak and off-peak packages would be formulated for the prompt month, second month, third month, balance-of-the-year in quarters, two full years in quarters, and four calendar years.

Platts is proposing to begin the new forward assessments effective for trade date January 28, the first day that the March 2010 package will trade as the prompt month.

Platts is proposing to discontinue its Into TVA forward assessments because standardized forward trading activity at that location is very limited. The discontinuance would take effect March 31, 2010; the last daily assessment would be published March 30, 2010.