Originally Posted by
Jantar
There are no real big winners and losers with the current market. In the early days there were some big losers among those who relied on the wholesale market without hedges. Once generators were also allowed to be retailers they were able to self hedge to a large extent and hedge trading between generators is also now encouraged.
There have been instances of generators being net pivotal and able to control parts of the market, but that is also now regulated against.
That doesn't mean that all risk has been removed, and losses can still be made by risking being short at high prices without sufficient hedging, or through selling too many hedges. Also by over-hedging so that a company is long at low prices. Other risks involve purchasing insufficient fuel for the expected generation, or buying too much take or pay fuel.
On the retail side their is a big risk that in trying too hard to be competitive that prices do not recover the local network costs. That can quickly add up to millions in losses unless retail customers can be shed.