Settlement and credit

Settlement dates

Settlement process guides

If you are a market participant or are interested in how settlement works, and need help with the power pool financial settlement process, view these guides.

Energy market disputes

View the 2020-2021 power pool financial settlement dispute timelines.

Banking information/treasury

All transactions related to energy market and transmission settlements must remain separate, deposited into their respective Bank of Montreal accounts without netting energy market and transmission statements. The AESO will electronically transfer amounts owed to participants and customers on the cash settlement date based upon the separate energy market (pool) and transmission statements, without any netting to offset amounts that might be owed to the AESO (i.e. netting transmission and energy market).

For more information please contact accounting@aeso.ca.

Bank of Montreal
340 – 7 Avenue SW
Calgary, AB T2P 0X4

Credit

The AESO has obtained a credit rating of AA-/Stable from Standard and Poor’s Ratings Services, a leading global provider of independent credit risk research and benchmarks.

To access Standard and Poor’s rating summary analysis for the AESO, visit www.standardandpoors.com.

Please direct any questions to:

Chun Seto 
Credit Risk Analyst
Phone: 403-539-2900
Email: chun.seto@aeso.ca

Energy market and transmission

For templates of the letter of credit, Guarantee and/or Cash Collateral Agreement, please contact:

Chun Seto 
Credit Risk Analyst
Phone: 403-539-2900
Email: chun.seto@aeso.ca

Credit procedures

Under the ISO Rules, Section 103.3 Financial Security Requirements, market participants are subject to a financial review by the Alberta Electric System Operator. The intent of the financial review is to assess the creditworthiness of a market participant in order to determine if any unsecured credit limit should be granted. Please refer to ISO Rules Section 103.7 Financial Default and Remedies as well as ISO Tariff Section 5 Financial Obligations for Connection Projects and Section 13 Financial Security, Settlement and Payment Terms for additional market participant credit related information.

For more information, please read the AESO Credit Procedures guide.

The Credit Procedures Guide, developed to support the AESO’s implementation of the ISO Rule and ISO Tariff, provides transparency to market participants as it relates to the AESO business processes and practices for managing market participant prudential requirements.

In the event of any discrepancies between the Credit Procedures Guide and the ISO Rules, the ISO Rules will take precedence. The granting of an unsecured credit limit for any market participant is at the discretion of the AESO.

For information on the Credit Procedures Guide, or to provide feedback, please contact:

Chun Seto 
Credit Risk Analyst
Phone: 403-539-2900
Email: chun.seto@aeso.ca

Prudential pool price

On the third business day of each month, the AESO will post a pool price for the current month, which will be used for the prudential requirement calculations for AESO market participants.

The AESO will calculate the monthly pool price for prudential requirements using a multiplier applied to the Alberta forward electricity price. The use of a multiplier is to allow for price volatility differences between actual pool prices and forward pool prices. If the actual pool price reaches or exceeds the pool price used for AESO prudential requirement, the AESO may request additional financial security from a market participant at its discretion.

For more information on the prudential pool price read the AESO Credit Procedures Guide.

2021 prudential pool price

Monthly reporting

As part of the AESO’s monthly credit reporting to market participants, the chart in the document below includes the unsecured credit limits and related credit exposures by credit rating category (i.e. AAA, AA, A, BBB) for rated market participants for the preceding two months. The chart also includes credit exposures, financial security and the amount of any unsecured credit granted by the AESO to non-rated market participants.

To protect the confidentiality of its market participants, the AESO will only provide aggregated information. No information will be provided on an individual market participant basis.