A day in the life of an energy trader

Some people in Ecotricity have to keep an eye on the energy we’ve got 24 hours a day. While we make a lot of the energy we supply to our customers, we also have to buy some from the energy market – and that means keeping tabs on what we’ve got and what we need every half an hour of every day! That’s where Kam comes in…  

6.30am

As soon as I get up I check out how trading on the energy market has gone through the night, and how prices are looking.

7.25am

I leave for work – five minutes later and I’d be stuck in traffic!

8.00am

I arrive at work, fire up my six screens, and have a coffee and breakfast while I look at the early morning trading. If our wind and sunmills haven’t generated enough energy to supply our customers with, it’s time to start trading.

10.30am

There are two energy auctions every day – this is the first one. If we don’t have enough energy, we need to buy. And if we have too much energy, we need to sell. It’s a bit like eBay for energy.

11.30am

I create a market report, where I look at if prices have gone up or down, and why.

12.30pm

Lunchtime – I make sure to always have a break from my desk, and go for a walk to stretch my legs.

1.30pm

Time to trade some gas. It’s the same as with electricity – we look at the demand and see if we need to buy or sell.

3.30pm

It’s the second energy auction of the day.

4.00pm

We’re coming up to a ‘super peak’ – for the next couple of hours, energy usage around Britain is very high as people start arriving home from work and having their tea. I need to make sure we have enough energy for our customers during this time while they make a cuppa, watch the news and do the washing up after dinner.

5.00pm

Home time!

8.00pm

I have a quick check of the market to see how things are looking before I relax in the evening.

10.00pm

Whilst most people are getting ready to go to bed, I’m taking another look at the market – and setting up any trades to happen overnight.

10.30pm

Bedtime….. unless the weather is very windy, which means the market is very volatile. Our windmills might be generating lots of energy, or if it’s too windy we might have to turn them off for safety reasons. That means I have to keep an especially close eye on the energy market in stormy weather, so we can keep powering our customers through the night. 

In the winter when the weather is very stormy I can be up trading until 3am!

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Without traders keeping the lights on and the power flowing, who knows where we’d be?

You can find out more about the green energy we supply our customers with here.