ICIS publishes the Industrial and Commercial Energy Snapshot (ICES) on every working day of the year in Britain. ICES provides a concise, one page snapshot of the key power and gas prices in Britain, including ICIS end of day-assessments, Heren Indices and the ICE gas exchange settles.
ICES also provides a bullet-point text summary explaining the main drivers of the over-the-counter (OTC) prices in Britain on a daily basis. The information contained in ICES is a summary of the some of the main UK wholesale information contained in the full length daily publication European Spot Gas Markets (ESGM) and European Daily Electricity Markets (EDEM).
The Heren Index – General Definitions
ICIS’ various market indices share a number of common characteristics, regardless of market or time period. They are all volume-weighted averages of trades reported to ICIS during the course of its market reporting activities. All of the trades on which the indices are based are published in ESGM on a daily basis as part of its list of trades reported.
All Heren Indices published in ICES are based on actual deals reported to ICIS.
All trading information is subject to ICIS’ usual tests of reliability:
1. Confirmation is sought from both parties to the deal.
2. If, as is often the case, both counter-parties are unwilling to confirm, confirmation is accepted from one side only. However, corroboration is also sought from other market participants.
3. If no confirmation is available, the deal may still be included if it is accepted by the wider market, and if ICIS itself regards it as reliable.
4. In addition to price and volume, which are essential for inclusion in the Index, ICIS ensures that deals include in the Index are stand-alone deals.
5. In the event that reported trades fall noticeably above or below the traded range for that contract on a given day, and in the absence of any reasonable explanation, ICIS would discard the deal or deals. Deals would be liable for rejection if they were 1% above or below the highest or lowest deals reported to ESGM and EDEM on that day. Evidence of the traded range given by market participants during the market reporting process would also be taken into account when assessing whether to include or discard a deal. Any discarded deals would not be entered into ICIS’ database and would be excluded from any Heren Index.
For full definitions of the Indices appearing at the top of the ICES publication, please refer to the relevant sections of the ESGM and EDEM methodologies.
To find out more about Industrial & Commercial Energy Snapshot Methodology September 2013
