June 6 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's utilities regulator said that it is introducing a ceiling on trading on the intraday and day-ahead segments of the Independent Bulgarian Electricity Exchange, as the exchange operator will no longer set a financial collateral.
The move aims to limit financial risk for the power exchange operator, the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) said last week.
In addition, the process of registration of new participants in the market is streamlined and temporary removal of market participants from the intraday market segment is made possible in cases when they conclude transactions for the purchase of electricity without guaranteed consumption.
The regulator has also terminated the continuous trade screen, part of the bilateral contracts market segment, at the repeated insistence of IBEX. "This eliminates the risk of pre-agreed deals and ensures greater transparency in the wholesale energy market, in line with the EU's REMIT regulation," EWRC said.
The Bulgarian energy regulator has previously imposed several penalties to local companies under the EU regulation on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency (REMIT).
In May, IBEX said that its intraday segment set a record in electricity trading volumes, with some 194,634 MWh traded by 87 registered market participants. The intraday segment has recorded a trading volume of 4,692,704 MWh since its inception five years ago.