Power/Energy Traders?

[Condi]

Any tips on applying for jobs trading power or energy? Anything I should read or know other than the obvious exchanges and contracts.

Im coming from a commodity trading background, but not traded power before.

Either that, or anyone working for Nat Grid/EDF/RWE etc want to give me a leg up and a good word to their HR departments?

[NewNameNeeded]

If you have experience in trading commodities then the skills you've developed should be highly transferable.

I moved from trading gas/power in to oil. Some very different dynamics, different factors driving supply and demand and pricing, different logistics, but the core skills I'd developed in gas/power allowed me to develop a similar understanding of crude and product markets.

What commodity market are you movibg from? And why the intetest in moving to gas/power?

FWIW trading gas was one of the most enjoyable jobs I've had - really liked it.

[kurt535]

trading electricity/gas is not like the other commodity markets you may have traded.

also depends what sector you are going in - physical balancing day ahead/otc/options

i dealt the options for many years. same rules apply as for any other derivatives market except it can be slow some days but generally physical asset owners short premium - as its free money.......

decent knowledge of physical market is useful though, especially gas storage availability/hydro capacity that maybe available to you in the company interviewing you.

some companies better than others, obviously. some maintain a utility outlook with trading grudgingly second. one bank i worked for have let a complete c&*k float to the surface and become their energy head. Id happily take the other side of every trade he does, even today! entergy koch always had my respect - not naming names but lad in trading there is smart cookie and am sure he would be senior by now.

brokers probably have made the most personal money out of the energy market though. but then isn't that always the way???

[Condi]

So at the moment Im trading ag's, which involves a lot of execution and first hand origination, and not much 'technical' trading. Options arnt used much, and going forwards I dont see how the industry is going to progress. There is such little money in the job that in a few years I think the larger firms will be totally dominant, and the opportunities for the smaller/medium size merchant will be gone.

Added to that is the physical locations of the companies are all rural, and not in very exciting places to live. It would do me good to experience trading a different asset class, using more options and derivatives and less physical execution and origination. I can see more future in energy and the way the industry is changing will give more opportunities than agriculture.

[kurt535]

Condi said:

So at the moment Im trading ag's, which involves a lot of execution and first hand origination, and not much 'technical' trading. Options arnt used much, and going forwards I dont see how the industry is going to progress. There is such little money in the job that in a few years I think the larger firms will be totally dominant, and the opportunities for the smaller/medium size merchant will be gone.

Added to that is the physical locations of the companies are all rural, and not in very exciting places to live. It would do me good to experience trading a different asset class, using more options and derivatives and less physical execution and origination. I can see more future in energy and the way the industry is changing will give more opportunities than agriculture.

seems a good move to me. Used to know a potato grower..name of geoff bolitho. he owned the other half of the west country hrh charles didn't. he ventured into ftse options and as far as i am aware, never went back to his tractor!!

there are some decent physical vs financial trades to do, along with arbing price diffs caused by seasonal variations. best one i did was taking power from newly liberated eastern bloc countries, swapping out with an eu country then wheeling it into spain mid summer to feed their air con power frenzy. not sure that are would still be there today but decent knowledge of the physical underlying is a big big advantage, including the uk interconnectors

[Condi]

kurt535 said:

seems a good move to me. Used to know a potato grower..name of geoff bolitho. he owned the other half of the west country hrh charles didn't. he ventured into ftse options and as far as i am aware, never went back to his tractor!!

there are some decent physical vs financial trades to do, along with arbing price diffs caused by seasonal variations. best one i did was taking power from newly liberated eastern bloc countries, swapping out with an eu country then wheeling it into spain mid summer to feed their air con power frenzy. not sure that are would still be there today but decent knowledge of the physical underlying is a big big advantage, including the uk interconnectors

The way I look at it is that I have a lot of the skills needed, and the S+D knowledge is much easier to learn than how an option works, or how to arb across countries.

Didnt get the job I applied for which is a bit frustrating, but have got a couple of applications out elsewhere so will wait and see.

Thanks for you input.

[Condi]

Further to this, does anyone have an opinion of sse? The location isn't ideal, but it's a pretty part of the world and I have friends up there so for a year or 2 it wouldn't be the end of the world.

[kurt535]

Condi said:

Further to this, does anyone have an opinion of sse? The location isn't ideal, but it's a pretty part of the world and I have friends up there so for a year or 2 it wouldn't be the end of the world.

going back 7 years had a pal who left them for a more corporate trading environment and he regretted it.

[Condi]

kurt535 said:

going back 7 years had a pal who left them for a more corporate trading environment and he regretted it.

Regretted leaving, or regretting working there?

[kurt535]

regretted leaving. he earns big mahoolas now for a city firm but had a quality of life working for them up there