Energy Trading in Germany

According to Bloomberg News, Germany’s largest energy trader is planning to expand its US operations. What a great example of entrepreneurial opportunism — RWE representatives state explicitly that they have not engaged in the types of questionable trading practices that are driving the financial uncertainty in US energy markets. This is how competition creates stability; hopefully the entry of RWE and other experienced financial firms will help stem this year’s shrinkage of US wholesale electricity markets. RWE also plans to retain ownership of some actual physical assets to support its energy trading, unlike Enron’s strategy of divesting as much of the physical realm as it could.