The Problem: Unavailability as Insider Information
In fast-moving wholesale electricity markets, the available generation capacity on the grid directly affects energy prices. If a large power plant or significant BESS asset suddenly becomes unavailable, it can reduce supply and cause prices to rise. As an asset owner or operator, you are often the first person to know about an unavailability on the asset you manage. This puts you in a powerful but potentially difficult position — you possess insider information that other market participants do not have. In principle, knowing that a large generator is unexpectedly offline could give an unfair trading advantage. In the most egregious cases, a bad actor could even deliberately take capacity offline purely to shift market prices in their favour. To prevent this kind of abuse, REMIT exists.What REMIT Requires
REMIT stands for the Regulation on Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency. It is a European Union regulation designed to prevent market manipulation and promote fair competition across all wholesale electricity and natural gas markets. Under REMIT, all market participants have three core obligations:1. Prohibition of Market Manipulation
REMIT strictly forbids any behaviour that could distort or mislead the market — whether through false signals, artificial trades, or deliberately withholding capacity to influence prices. Fair price formation is the foundation of a functioning energy market.2. Prohibition of Insider Trading
Using non-public, price-sensitive information to make trading decisions — or sharing such information with others who might use it — is strictly forbidden.3. Obligation to Publish Inside Information
Market participants are legally required to publicly disclose inside information in an effective and timely manner. Any information that could significantly affect wholesale energy prices must be made immediately available to the public.For BESS assets, this most commonly applies to unavailabilities — if your asset or a significant portion of it is unexpectedly offline, or its available capacity changes materially, this must be reported promptly via designated platforms such as the European Transparency Platform.