Energy Risk - Volume8/No6
Articles in this issue
Both sides of the fence: a statistical and regulatory view of electricity risk
Ernst Eberlein and Gerhard Stahl analyse price series of 25 energy spot rates simultaneously using Lévy models. This model class allows the capture of stochastic behaviour of these financial instruments. The implications of this analysis will form the…
Hedge out on the highway
US haulage firms seem to be making little use of risk management tools to mitigate high fuel prices. But parcel carriers are taking the initiative, finds Kevin Foster
Allegheny reduces trading exposure with contract sale
Maryland-based Allegheny Energy has reduced its exposure to energy trading by selling an energy supply contract to a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs for $405 million.
Chicago Climate Exchange live in Octoberwith contract sale
The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions market, will start trading on October 10, it said in August. CCX also said it has contracted Atlanta-based online commodities exchange IntercontinentalExchange (Ice) to design, provide…
People swaps
BOC’s Mortimer to join European energy users’ body Hugh Mortimer, commercial manager at UK industrial group BOC, has been invited to join the board of the International Federation of Industrial Energy Consumers Europe (IFIEC). He will replace David…
Watching the home front
The growing international controversy about Iran’s nuclear ambitions as well as internal unrest may stall foreign investment in the country’s energy sector in a way that US sanctions have failed to do. Maria Kielmas reports
Taiwan’s growing risk appetite
Relying on imports for most of its energy requirements and constrained by the government’s view that risk management is gambling, how can Taiwan tackle the challenge of price risk in its growing energy sector? By David Hayes
Isda and EEI collaborate on Power Annex
The New York-based International Swaps and Derivatives Association (Isda) and US trade body the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) published a North American Power Annex to the Isda Master Agreement in August.
Water faces rising costs
UK water utilities are expecting rising electricity and environmental costs as they and their regulator prepare for the next five-year price review. Maria Kielmas reports
A hard Act to follow
The final piece of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act – section 404 – falls into place this month, requiring internal control reports. While the Act may go some way to restoring investor confidence, it is costing energy companies dear, finds Kevin Foster
System-ready for Sarbanes-Oxley
Energy companies are not alone in having to review their operations to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Energy software suppliers, too, are looking at their systems, although most are confident they are already well prepared, finds Clive Davidson
Deregulation versus re-regulation
While the US authorities are still ironing kinks out of a major electricity market redesign and looking to repeal the utility industry’s most influential Act, US regulators and self regulators are moving to fill the vacuum. Catherine Lacoursière reports
Utilities cut spending on IT
Energy utilities have cut spending on IT by 13% so far this year, according to the initial results of a study by Connecticut-based consultancy the Meta Group.
Royal Bank of Canada reaches agreement over Enron case
The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has reached a settlement agreement with Enron, the Enron creditors’ committee and Dutch firm Rabobank, resolving aspects of a share transaction known as ‘Cerberus’. The transaction also involved the use of total return…
A true test for value-at-risk
The three classic approaches for measuring portfolio value-at-risk do not compare like with like, argues Richard Sage. Here he presents a test portfolio to highlight the differences between calculation methods
WRMA to campaign on data and against normalisation
Lynda Clemmons, president of the US Weather Risk Management Association (WRMA), is to sit on an American Meteorological Society (AMS) panel to address issues in the weather industry involving weather data and public-private partnerships.
LNG could rescue the US
Sandy Fielden of energy market specialist Logical Information Machines looks at a potential solution to the US natural gas supply crisis: liquefied natural gas
Tennessee’s valley of debt
Tennessee Valley Authority’s power plant financing arrangements should be measured as debt, says the US General Accounting Office, thereby putting further pressure on its politically sensitive and federally restricted debt levels. Paul Lyon reports
All talk, no action
Cancelled power plant auctions and the complexities of asset debt structures are bad news for the boutiques set up to acquire power assets. The boutiques talk a good business plan – but execution may prove troublesome, as Paul Lyon discovers
