Home
EEX products, calendars, and German contract definitions

German Power Trading — EEX & Market Specifics

This page focuses on German market specifics: EEX/EPEX product set, holiday calendars, and the official German baseload vs peak load contract definitions. For P&L, MTM, settlement, and the full interactive calculator, see the main Power Trading P&L & MTM page.

EEX / EPEX Exchange & spot
Phelix DE German price index
Base / Peak Contract definitions
Calendars Holiday & delivery days

EEX / EPEX power products (Germany)

The European Energy Exchange (EEX) and EPEX Spot offer the main German power products. ETRM systems must map trades to the correct product and delivery structure.

  • Phelix DE — German price index used as reference for many OTC and exchange contracts (day-ahead, base, peak).
  • Futures (EEX): Monthly base, monthly peak, quarterly base/peak, yearly base/peak. Settlement is typically against the EEX Phelix index or the EPEX day-ahead auction index for the delivery period.
  • Day-ahead (EPEX Spot): Hourly products for delivery the next day; auction and continuous markets. Different from forward base/peak which fix volume and price for a full month or longer.
  • Intraday: Short-term hourly or 15-min products for balancing and flexibility; separate from forward baseload/peak valuation.

Product IDs, delivery start/end, and contract size (e.g. 1 MW per block) are exchange-specific and feed into volume aggregation and MTM.

Holiday calendars & delivery days

Peak load in German/EEX definitions typically excludes weekends and exchange-defined holidays. The number of “peak days” in a month therefore depends on the holiday calendar used by the exchange (e.g. EEX calendar for Germany).

  • EEX publishes holiday calendars per delivery area (e.g. Germany). Days classified as holidays have no peak hours — only base hours count for that day.
  • Example: If a month has 28 calendar days but 2 are holidays, base might be 28×24×MW, while peak might be (28 − 2 − 8 weekend days) = 18 weekdays × 12h × MW, not 20 weekdays. ETRM must use the correct calendar to avoid misstated volume and P&L.
  • Different markets (e.g. France, Nordic) use different holiday calendars; cross-border or multi-country portfolios need calendar-aware aggregation.

Using a fixed “20 weekdays” is a simplification; production systems use the official EEX (or counterparty) calendar for the delivery period.

German baseload vs peak load — contract definitions

Official EEX-style definitions for German power contracts:

  • Baseload (Base): Delivery of constant volume (MW) in every hour of the delivery period. For a month, that is 24 hours × number of calendar days (including weekends and holidays). Volume (MWh) = MW × 24 × calendar days.
  • Peak load (Peak): Delivery of constant volume (MW) only during peak hours on working days (weekdays excluding exchange-defined holidays). EEX peak is typically 08:00–20:00 CET (12 hours) on each such day. Volume (MWh) = MW × 12 × number of peak days (working days in the period per the relevant calendar).
ProductHours/dayDaysNote
Base24All calendar daysIncl. weekends & holidays
Peak12 (08:00–20:00)Working days onlyEEX holiday calendar

ETRM configuration must align with these definitions (and the correct calendar) so that trade capture, volume aggregation, and MTM match exchange and counterparty expectations.

For the full P&L & MTM narrative, interactive calculator, settlement & nomination, and complexity & risks, use the main page: Power Trading — P&L & MTM.