<p>We would like to invite all market participants to the online workshop organized by <strong>Market Coupling Consultative Group </strong> (MCCG). The session will be held on <strong>14th February 2025, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.</strong> The workshop will focus on the introduction of the 15minute Market Time Unit (MTU) in the Single Day-Ahead Coupling (SDAC).</p> <p> Detailed agenda including the registration instruction can be found <a href="https://www.nemo-committee.eu/assets/files/MCCG-14February2025-agenda-ee1939d5357d6ddb9d9116ece3e66961.pdf">here</a>.</p> <p>Furthermore, we would like to remind you that OTE, a.s. is organizing <strong>a webinar on the introduction of 15-Minute Products on the Day-Ahead Electricity Market in the Czech Republic. </strong> The webinar will be held on 5th March from 10:00 to 11:30 (in Czech language). You can find detailed information about this upcoming change in the Czech Republic, as well as the webinar invitation, <a href="https://www.ote-cr.cz/information-on-the-introduction-of-15-minute-products-on-the-day-ahead-electricity-market-in-the-czech-republic?set_language=en">here</a>.</p> <p><em>*OTE, a.s. as a Nominated Electricity Market Operator (‘NEMO‘) in the Czech Republic has been a member of the All NEMO Committee since 2015.</em></p>

<p>OTE a.s., together with other Nominated Electricity Market Operators (NEMO) cooperating within the Single day-ahead coupling (SDAC), informs market participants about the removal of the second auction on the day-ahead electricity market, effective from January 29, 2025 (for the delivery day of January 30, 2025).</p> <p>In the event of reaching or exceeding the threshold values of marginal prices during the Market Coupling process, the day-ahead market will not be reopened, meaning that the <strong>Second Auction will not be declared</strong>. In these cases, the market operator will therefore not apply respective provisions of the Business Terms of OTE, a.s., for the Power Sector. A similar approach will be applied to other markets in Europe within the SDAC except for the Baltic states, where the option to declare a second auction will remain until 15-minute products are introduced on the day-ahead market in this region.</p> <p>This change follows the results of the public consultation related to the potential removal of the second auctions (the Consultation Report is available for download on the <a href="https://www.nemo-committee.eu/public-consultations/open-public-consultation-on-the-potential-removal-of-the-so-called-second-auctions">Nemo Committee website</a>), launched at the beginning of 2024 by NEMOs cooperating within the SDAC.</p> <p>Official NEMO Committee communication note can be found <a data-val="d854199d7b01433b92db09a2ecb3a057" href="https://www.ote-cr.cz/en/about-ote/ote-news/second-auction-decommissioned-in-sdac.pdf" data-linktype="internal"><u>here</u></a>.</p>

<p>The updated Business Terms of OTE, a.s., for the Power Sector (Revision 37 – November 2024) have been published on OTE website. The updated OTE Business Terms for the power sector were approved by Energy Regulatory Office on 16^th January 2025 and will be <strong>effective </strong><strong>on</strong> <strong>31^st January</strong><strong> 202</strong><strong>5</strong><strong>.</strong></p> <p>The annex No. 1, 2 and 3 of OTE Business Terms have been changed by this revision as well.</p> <p>Please note that this translation is provided for informative purposes only. Only the original Czech versions are legally binding. Currently in editing progress, temporarily only in the Czech version <a href="http://www.ote-cr.cz/cs/registrace-a-smlouvy/smluvni-vztahy-plyn/obchodni-podminky?set_language=cs">HERE</a>.</p>

<p>ELGAS, s.r.o. has been registered in the central system OTE as a balance responsible party with access to the short-term power markets organized by OTE with effect from 1st February 2025. Currently the short-term power markets have 151 members and the short-term gas market has 143 members.</p>

<p>On the page <a data-val="https://www.ote-cr.cz/en/documentation/xsd-wsdl-ote-public-web-services/xml-message-formats-xsd-templates-for-suggestions" href="https://www.ote-cr.cz/../../../documentation/xsd-wsdl-ote-public-web-services/xml-message-formats-xsd-templates-for-suggestions" data-linktype="external"><em>XML message formats, XSD templates for suggestions</em></a>, we have published a new version of the templates for feedback. Alongside them, message formats for electricity are also available.</p> <ul> <li><strong>Deadline for feedback</strong>: Until February 7, 2025</li> <li><strong>Planned deployment to the production environment</strong>: February 18, 2025</li> </ul> <p>For more information, please visit the page linked above.</p>

<p><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Roboto;">PPD Global SA has been registered in the central system OTE as a Balance Responsible Party with access to the nominations and short-term gas markets organized by OTE with effect from the 1st of February 2025. Currently the short-term power market has 150 members and the short-term gas market 143 members.</span></p>

<p>In accordance with Decree No. 408/2015 Coll., on the Electricity Market Rules, the market operator announces, that it suspends the activity of <strong>Liberty Ostrava a.s., Company ID: 45193258, EAN: 8591824015704</strong>, in its system due to the loss of the license to supply electricity.</p> <p> </p> <p>In accordance with Decree No 408/2015 Coll., on the Electricity Market Rules, market participants may submit an application for an accelerated change of supplier pursuant to Section 59 of the Decree through the market operator\'s information system <strong>by 24:00 on 24 January 2025</strong>. In the event that the customers do not make an accelerated change of supplier, the supply of electricity by the supplier of last resort will be initiated to the respective customers.</p> <p> </p> <p>The supplier of last resort (DPI) is a tool that protects consumers in the event of of any energy supplier. It kicks in immediately and people can take energy from it for up to three months. At any time during this period, they can choose a new regular supplier and switch to it without any restrictions. Even if they had a fixed-term contract with their original supplier, this is no longer valid under the DPI.</p> <p> </p> <p>The market operator acts in accordance with the applicable regulations and with the aim of minimising negative impacts on the electricity market.</p>

<p>Download the monthly electricity and gas market report <a data-val="baddcaf3c8ca48cf8688a96fe9245563" href="https://www.ote-cr.cz/en/about-ote/ote-news/monthly_market_report_12_2024.pdf" data-linktype="internal">HERE.</a></p>

<p>The energy market experienced a very dynamic year last year. Almost 600,000 electricity customers and more than 200,000 gas customers decided to change their energy supplier as the statistics of the market operator shows. It is a record year, with the exception of the crisis years 2021 and 2022, which were affected by the termination of the activities of some large suppliers of both commodities.</p> <p>More information can be found <a data-val="f6f7c3335ac048c588047a1b8398003d" href="https://www.ote-cr.cz/en/about-ote/ote-news/tz_20250109_change-of-supplier_en.pdf" data-linktype="internal" target="_blank" title="Change of supplier 2024">here</a>.</p>

<p>In light of the upcoming introduction of a 15-minute trading interval on the day-ahead electricity market (DAM), we are providing more detailed information through a <a href="https://www.ote-cr.cz/../../documentation/electricity-documentation/202501_dam_15min_ote_eng.pdf">presentation</a> that outlines the key impacts of this change on trading activities within DAM in the Czech Republic.</p> <p>The go-live date for the 15-minute trading interval on DAM has been set, in collaboration with European nominated market operators (NEMOs) and transmission system operators (TSOs), for June 11, 2025, for the delivery day of June 12, 2025 (see the <a href="https://www.ote-cr.cz/15-minute-products-set-to-go-live-in-june-2025-in-the-european-single-day-ahead-coupling-sdac">joint NEMO and TSO press release</a> dated December 19, 2024).</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>We are pleased to invite you to an online webinar on <u>March 5th, from 10:00 to 11:30</u></strong> (The webinar will be held in Czech only. An English version of the presented material will be made available afterwards). The webinar will provide the latest information on the introduction of 15-minute products on DAM in the Czech Republic.  An invitation to the webinar will be sent to market participants via CS OTE.</p> <p> </p> <p>Detailed information regarding the mentioned changes, including the presentation and related documentation, can be found on the OTE website:</p> <p><a href="https://www.ote-cr.cz/../../documentation/electricity-documentation/information-to-switch-to-15-min-interval?set_language=en">Transition to a 15-minute settlement and trading period for the electricity commodity — English</a></p> <p>If you have any questions, please send them to the email address <a href="mailto:market@ote-cr.cz">market@ote-cr.cz</a> . Their summary can be found in the "<a href="https://www.ote-cr.cz/../../documentation/electricity-documentation/q-a-ote-dam-15min-eng.pdf">Questions and Answers</a>" document.</p>

<p>The organized short-term electricity market operated by OTE, a.s. recorded a new record volume of closed electricity deals in 2024. Also, thanks to the introduction of new tools such as intraday auctions and the possibility to trade every quarter of an hour, there was an increase in traded electricity to 31,637 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity (a year-on-year increase of 0.4%). For comparison, this is the same as consumed by almost 12,700,000 households. Compared to previous years, prices also fell across markets, electricity was the cheapest since 2020.</p> <p>More information can be found <a data-val="9c9fbcee76934173a5d4aee7ca99e232" href="https://www.ote-cr.cz/en/about-ote/ote-news/tz_20250106_trading-volumes_2024.pdf" data-linktype="upload" title="The year 2024 on OTE markets">here</a>.</p>

<p>Dear users,</p> <p>As of <strong>February 18, 2025</strong> (during the scheduled CS OTE downtime), data files on the public OTE website will be provided exclusively in the <strong>.xlsx</strong> format.</p> <p>Currently, there is an active redirection from <strong>.xls</strong> files to the new <strong>.xlsx</strong> format, ensuring their availability even when using older links. <br /> However, this redirection will be completely discontinued on the aforementioned date.</p> <p>Manual data downloads will remain unaffected. Users who process data using automated tools should ensure their applications and relevant URL addresses are updated to accommodate the new file format in time.</p> <p>This announcement follows the earlier notification: <a href="https://www.ote-cr.cz/../cs-ote-rss/zmena-formatu-dat-z-xls-na-xlsx-na-webu-ote-od-17-12-2024-1"><strong>Change in data format from xls to xlsx on the OTE website as of December 17, 2024</strong></a>.</p> <p> </p> <p>Thank you for your understanding and for making the necessary adjustments.</p> <p>ICT Services Department</p>

<p>Download the monthly electricity and gas market report <a data-val="b35990a850504acb81bba904ff581775" href="https://www.ote-cr.cz/en/about-ote/ote-news/monthly_market_report_11_2024.pdf" data-linktype="internal">HERE</a>.</p>

<p>Nominated Market Operators and Transmission System Operators publish the updated implementation plan for the 15-minute Market Time Unit in the European Single Day-Ahead Coupling. More information can be found in the attached press release below:</p> <ul> <li><a data-val="c24f3714db00495a8d7fa6c3f866b2cc" href="https://www.ote-cr.cz/en/about-ote/ote-news/sdac-15-min-products-updated-go-live-plan.pdf" data-linktype="internal">PR: SDAC 15min - go-live plan</a></li> </ul> <p> In addition to the joint press release above, the Market Operator will provide further details on the main changes in OTE systems resulting from the introduction of 15-minute products on the Day-Ahead electricity market. This information will be available in a presentation, which will be published on the Market Operator\'s website in sections  <a href="https://www.ote-cr.cz/ote-news?set_language=en">“OTE News”</a> and “ <a href="https://www.ote-cr.cz/../../documentation/electricity-documentation/information-to-switch-to-15-min-interval?set_language=en">Documentation</a>” at the beginning of January.</p>

<p>Dear Business Partners,</p> <p>We sincerely thank you for your continued cooperation and wish you a joyful holiday season and much success in 2025.</p> <p>We already look forward to resuming our joint activities and achieving our goals together after the holiday period.</p> <p>Wishing you wonderful festive days full of peace and happiness. 🎄✨</p> <p>Sincerely,</p> <p>Your OTE, a.s.</p> <hr /> <p><img src="https://www.ote-cr.cz/cs/o-spolecnosti/zpravy_ote/pf-ote-2025-1.png/@@images/40aed388-5eaf-4156-9cbd-eb6c878c9555.png" data-linktype="image" title="PF OTE 2025-1.png" data-val="7e61efd0f7b549ce809c4b1422abf338" data-scale="large" alt="PF OTE 2025-1.png" class="image-inline" /></p>

<p>Although modern and decentralized energy is greener, it also brings with it its pitfalls or, from another point of view, opportunities. Even energy traders have been aware of this in recent years. They have to deal with ever greater and less predictable price movements in markets where the number of days with very expensive or, conversely, extremely cheap electricity is constantly increasing. The year 2024 saw a record number of days when electricity fell into the negative.<br />More information can be found in the attached press release below:</p> <p><a data-val="5a8dcc8eb15249578d11d4debcf71c25" href="https://www.ote-cr.cz/en/about-ote/ote-news/20241216_tz_weather-effects-on-electricity-prices-1.pdf" data-linktype="internal">PR: Weather impacts on electricity prices.pdf</a></p>

<p>ELECTREE SMART s.r.o. has been registered in the central system OTE as a balance responsible party with access to the short-term power and gas markets organized by OTE with effect from 15th December 2024. Currently the short-term power markets have 150 members and the short-term gas market has 142 members.</p>

<p><strong><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Roboto;">Next Kraftwerke GmbH</span></strong><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Roboto;"> was terminated in the central system OTE as a balance responsible party in power markets as of 31st December 2024. Currently the short-term power markets have 149 members and the short-term gas market 141 members.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Roboto;">AGF Energy, a.s. has been registered in the central system OTE as a Balance Responsible Party with access to the nominations and short-term gas markets organized by OTE with effect from the 1st od January 2025. Currently the short-term power market has 150 members and the short-term gas market 141 members.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Roboto;">CPI Energo, a.s. has been registered in the central system OTE as a Balance Responsible Party with access to the nominations and short-term gas markets organized by OTE with effect from the 7th of December 2024. Currently the short-term power market has 150 members and the short-term gas market 140 members.</span></p>