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Determinants of the premium in forward contracts

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  • Christian Redl
  • Derek Bunn

Abstract

Whilst the benefits of forward contracting for goods and services have been extensively researched in terms of mitigating market power effects in spot markets, we analyse how the risk in spot price formation induces a counteracting premium in the contract prices. We consider and test a wide-ranging set of propositions, involving fundamental, behavioural, dynamic, market conduct and shock components, on a long data set from the most liquid of European electricity forward markets, the EEX. We show that part of what is conventionally regarded as the market price of risk in electricity is actually that of its underlying fuel commodity, gas; that market power has a double effect on prices, insofar as it increases spot prices and induces a forward premium; that oil price sentiment spills over and that the premium reacts to scarcity and the higher moments of spot price uncertainty. We observe that considerations of the scale and determinants of the forward premium are at least as important as the market power effects in spot market price formation when evaluating the efficiency of wholesale power trading. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Redl & Derek Bunn, 2013. "Determinants of the premium in forward contracts," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 90-111, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:regeco:v:43:y:2013:i:1:p:90-111
    DOI: 10.1007/s11149-012-9202-7
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    Cited by:

    1. van Koten, Silvester, 2021. "The forward premium in electricity markets: An experimental study," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    2. Koten, Silvester Van, 2020. "Forward premia in electricity markets: A replication study," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    3. Weron, Rafał & Zator, Michał, 2014. "Revisiting the relationship between spot and futures prices in the Nord Pool electricity market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 178-190.
    4. Marius Paschen, 2016. "The effect of intermittent renewable supply on the forward premium in German electricity markets," Working Papers V-397-16, University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics, revised Nov 2016.
    5. Fleten, Stein-Erik & Hagen, Liv Aune & Nygård, Maria Tandberg & Smith-Sivertsen, Ragnhild & Sollie, Johan M., 2015. "The overnight risk premium in electricity forward contracts," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 293-300.
    6. Alfredo Trespalacios & Lina M. Cortés & Javier Perote, 2021. "Modeling Electricity Price and Quantity Uncertainty: An Application for Hedging with Forward Contracts," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-26, June.
    7. Bunn, Derek W. & Chen, Dipeng, 2013. "The forward premium in electricity futures," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 173-186.
    8. Heikki Peura & Derek W. Bunn, 2021. "Renewable Power and Electricity Prices: The Impact of Forward Markets," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(8), pages 4772-4788, August.
    9. Bonaldo, Cinzia & Caporin, Massimiliano & Fontini, Fulvio, 2022. "The relationship between day-ahead and future prices in electricity markets: An empirical analysis on Italy, France, Germany, and Switzerland," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    10. Brown, David P. & Eckert, Andrew & Olmstead, Derek E.H., 2022. "Procurement auctions for regulated retail service contracts in restructured electricity markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    11. Gersema, Gerke & Wozabal, David, 2017. "An equilibrium pricing model for wind power futures," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 64-74.
    12. Asche, Frank & Misund, Bard & Oglend, Atle, 2015. "Production Risk and the Futures Price Risk Premium?," UiS Working Papers in Economics and Finance 2015/13, University of Stavanger.
    13. Spodniak, Petr & Collan, Mikael, 2018. "Forward risk premia in long-term transmission rights: The case of electricity price area differentials (EPAD) in the Nordic electricity market," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 194-206.
    14. Bevin-McCrimmon, Fergus & Diaz-Rainey, Ivan & McCarten, Matthew & Sise, Greg, 2018. "Liquidity and risk premia in electricity futures," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 503-517.
    15. Rick Steinert & Florian Ziel, 2018. "Short- to Mid-term Day-Ahead Electricity Price Forecasting Using Futures," Papers 1801.10583, arXiv.org.
    16. Størdal, Ståle & Ewald, Christian-Oliver & Lien, Gudbrand & Haugom, Erik, 2023. "Trading time seasonality in electricity futures," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    17. Koolen, Derck & Huisman, Ronald & Ketter, Wolfgang, 2022. "Decision strategies in sequential power markets with renewable energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Electricity; Prices; Risk; Forward contracting; Market power; Spillover; Q40; C10; G13;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q40 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - General
    • C10 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - General
    • G13 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Contingent Pricing; Futures Pricing

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