How does access to the German gas market work and what does it take to trade at the Virtual Trading Point? How does Germany’s entry/exit model work and what are the actual market roles in this system?
We have the answers you’re looking for! We have created a short presentation explaining how to get your "admission ticket" to the German market area.
For further questions, please contact Customer Relations as well as Dispatching, VTP-Management.
To be able to ship gas quantities, trade at the Virtual Trading Point, and supply gas to end users in the Trading Hub Europe market area, market participants need a balancing group contract. The terms and conditions can be found here. Market participants can either choose to conclude their own balancing group contract or use the balancing groups or balancing subgroups of other balancing group managers.
Market participants who have been approved as balancing group managers can use the Customer Portal to enter into balancing group and associated balancing subgroup contracts in the Trading Hub Europe market area.
To register as a balancing group manager, market participants need a DVGW or GLN code (for the role of balancing group manager). The DVGW code can be applied for on the DVGW website.
Please note that the implementation period for balancing group contracts and balancing sub-groups is 10 working days.
For further questions, please contact Customer Relations.
The wholesale market in the Trading Hub Europe market area can be accessed directly via EEX, ICE Endex or via a broker.
The prerequisite for using the Trading Hub Europe VTP is a valid balancing group contract, which can be concluded in the Trading Hub Europe Customer Portal after registration and admission as a balancing group manager.
Balancing group managers can use the VTP to transfer gas quantities between balancing groups by submitting the relevant trading nominations along with the balancing group number. The transfer of quantities between balancing groups requires a nomination by the disposing balancing group manager and the acquiring balancing group manager. A list of the active trading participants at the Trading Hub Europe VTP can be found here.
Nominations for the transfer of gas quantities are subject to a matching process which involves comparing the hourly values and applying what is known as the "lesser-of rule". If there is a mismatch between the nominations of two trading partners, the lower of the two nominated hourly values is deemed to be agreed and is confirmed by Trading Hub Europe as the matched hourly value.
Detailed information on the admission process and trading opportunities can be found here.
Information on the development of the churn rate, the trading participants and the volumes traded at Trading Hub Europe’s VTP along with other information can be found here.
For further questions, please contact Dispatching, VTP-Management.
The Trading Hub Europe market area is a multi-quality market area in which both high and low CV gas quantities are balanced and traded.
Balancing group managers with balancing groups of different gas qualities in the Trading Hub Europe market area are obliged to link their balancing groups in order to be able to use the conversion options offered by the multi-quality market area.
According to the ruling of the Federal Network Agency, the market area manager is entitled to charge an incentive-based conversion fee for the conversion from high CV gas to low CV gas. In addition, the market area manager may levy a conversion neutrality charge to cover the costs it incurs in the multi-quality market area due to conversion measures. The conversion neutrality charge is levied on all physical inputs introduced into a balancing group on a daily basis.
The market area features conversion facilities to convert both high CV gas to low CV gas and low CV gas to high CV gas (technical conversion). If these conversion capacities are not sufficient, the system balancing quantities must be used to allow what is known as commercial conversion.
Further information on gas conversion can be found in the decision of the Federal Network Agency of 21 December 2016 (ref. BK7-16-050, "KONNI Gas 2.0").
For further questions, please contact Regulatory Affairs, Security of Supply, Data Analysis.
Allocations are used to assign gas quantities to balancing groups or balancing (sub)groups. The network operator sends the relevant allocation data in ALOCAT format to Trading Hub Europe. After balancing by the market area manager, the allocation data are then forwarded to the balancing group manager.
Detailed information on the allocation process and the relevant deadlines can be found here.
If there are any subsequent changes to the expected allocations after the final allocations have been submitted, they can be corrected in a clearing process. The deadlines for submitting a clearing allocation are:
• for SLP points from D-1CD, 13:01 until M+2M-10WD (-1CD) at the latest
• for all other physical points from M+15WD until M+2M-10WD (-1CD) at the latest.
Before transmitting the relevant clearing allocation, the balancing group manager must apply for a clearing number and send this number to the network operator. This clearing number is to be used by the network operator when it submits the clearing allocation.
In exceptional cases the clearing process for RLM exit points can be handled solely by the network operator.
To help with the process of establishing contact between network operators and balancing group managers, Trading Hub Europe publishes the details of appropriate contact persons. These details are provided on the portal.
For further questions, please contact Customer Relations or Data Management.
Under the terms of the Cooperation Agreement, network operators provide the market area managers with a declaration list for the following delivery month in TSIMSG format by the 17th working day of the current month at the latest. The market area manager forwards this list to the balancing group managers by 12 noon on the 18th working day.
Network operators and balancing group managers can access valid declarations in the portal. Following the initial transmission of the declaration, there is also the option of a clearing process. The terms and conditions governing this process as well as further information on declarations can be found here.
For further questions, please contact Customer Relations and/or Data Management.
For the financial settlement of RLM quantity differences, the network operators submit a revised allocation based on the balancing CV and a revised allocation based on the billing CV together with their M+12WD allocation for RLM exit points.
The delta between these two values is dealt with by market area managers and balancing group managers as part of the balancing group invoicing process for which the daily weighted average price of gas on the relevant trading platform is used.
Further information on quantity differences can be found here.
For further questions, please contact the customer relation department.
The relevant publication is available here.
Information on the within-day flexibility charge and the corresponding publication can be found here.
For further questions, please contact Dispatching, VTP-Management.
The contractual terms and conditions for balancing group managers can be found here.