Epex Advised to Improve Back-Up Plan After IT Glitch.

European electricity networks have been advised to improve their communications after a technical glitch caused German electricity prices to spike by 550% last month. The incident occurred on June 25 when the EPEX Spot exchange experienced a problem in its trading system, leading to pricing turmoil in day-ahead power markets. The Market Coupling Steering Committee has recommended that operators of electricity markets and high-voltage power lines review their procedures to enhance communication during incidents and ensure the successful application of fallback measures in the future. The glitch resulted in over €300 million ($325 million) of losses in German power alone and impacted industries such as steel manufacturing. The committee, composed of market operators and transmission system operators, has already made improvements to regional procedures to enhance communication. [Extracted from the article]