ACM advocates fair trading in the energy market

The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) always looks closely at indications with regard to insider trading and market manipulation in the energy markets. This was the message of Remko Bos, Director of ACM’s Energy Department, at the international EMART Energy conference in Amsterdam. “We regularly receive indications of possible violations. We always carefully scrutinize them.”

In the energy market, traders must be able to deal on a level playing field. This is only possible if everyone has the same information. Fair trading is crucial for fair competition. And that leads to more competitive consumer prices. Energy companies and exchanges must comply with all kinds of strict rules, as a result of which improper use of information is prevented. These rules follow from the European regulation called REMIT (Regulation on wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency). Violation of these rules may result in fines being imposed by ACM, which, per violation, can be as much as 10 percent of a company’s turnover.

In the past few years, ACM has worked closely together with The Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) and other European regulators to set up oversight on insider trading in the energy market.

REMIT prohibits insider trading and market manipulation in the energy markets. Several additional requirements also apply:

• Businesses that trade in wholesale energy products are required to register themselves with the European agency ACER (Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators), and they must report their transactions to ACER;
• Businesses that trade in wholesale energy products are required to publish price-sensitive information (‘inside information’) without delay;
• Exchanges and brokers are required to notify ACM of any suspicions they have of any violations of these rules.