Monday morning, 8.30 a.m., head office in Bern, HS2, fourth floor. The doors to the trading floor only open with a special badge. Behind them: many screens and a calm, focused atmosphere. No hectic chaos like you see in stock market films. Instead, the traders type intently, scroll through charts, follow curves and news feeds. Those who work here make decisions involving millions in a matter of seconds. And yet the employees remain calm.“Trading is very operational; something new is happening all the time,” says Olivier Crevoiserat, Head of Commodity Trading. “Every operational error – whether caused by a person or the program – costs money in the end. But that is exactly what makes it appealing.” He has been with BKW for almost 19 years. What fascinates him every day? “I think problems are cool. Because that’s when you can develop solutions.”

Getting up early for the marketWhile outside the city of Bern is only just waking up, here things have already been in full swing for hours. For day-ahead trading, many people start their analyses from home as early as 6.30 a.m. “Today we sent out the results of the analysis at 7.50 a.m. That is relatively late,” says Crevoiserat. The morning meeting follows at 8.30 a.m., with a meteorologist also speaking. After all, weather forecasts are crucial for the electricity price: how much wind is blowing in northern Germany? Is the sun shining in Spain? Traders need focus. “That is why we try to keep our calendars as empty as possible. It is an art,” says Crevoiserat. He once studied physics and has a master’s degree in applied mathematics. In other words, he is a numbers person. “But someone who is not that strong mathematically can also be a good trader,” he emphasises. Intuition is also important. More on that in a moment.But first: how does electricity trading actually work? Producers, traders and suppliers buy and sell electricity on exchanges or directly with one another – days, weeks or years in advance. The aim is to balance supply and demand and hedge risks. “Sometimes you have too much electricity, sometimes too little,” explains Olivier Crevoiserat. Ultimately, prices drive decisions. And the real raison d’être of trading is the management of the company’s own power plant portfolio.

Between risk and intuitionOne person who particularly enjoys the dynamics of electricity trading is Pietro Sirotti. The 31-year-old Energy Trader from Italy has been working at BKW since the beginning of 2021, first in intraday trading, and today he is employed as a Short-Time Trader. Sirotti is casually dressed and comes to work by bike. “We start early in the morning; by 12.45 pm we have to trade. Then comes delivery – that is the best moment of the job. You see immediately whether you made the right decision.” The appeal for him: the mix of figures, models and gut feeling. “We all have the same data, but we interpret it differently. That’s what makes the job exciting,” says Sirotti. Logical thinking and intuition go hand in hand – sometimes the market goes against the models, sometimes it confirms them. “The immediate feedback motivates me. You know straight away whether you were right – or not.” Pietro Sirotti is deeply relaxed. “Whether you are stressed or relaxed depends on your personality,” he says. What helps at work, however, is self-confidence. His motto: “I’m doing the right thing.”

24 hours a day, 7 days a weekA short break over a coffee in the kitchen on the fourth floor: on the roof terrace, two traders can be seen talking over a cigarette. In between, Olivier Crevoiserat talks about the risk taken in trading. “You don’t have to sell electricity in advance, but it reduces the risk.” With renewable energies in particular, forecasts are never perfect. “That’s where models are needed – and a good feel for the market.”Electricity is also traded at night in what is known as intraday trading. “Energy prices don’t sleep – so neither do we,” says Pietro Sirotti, laughing. In fact, the lights are always on at night on the fourth floor of HS2. The trading floor operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And the work extends far beyond electricity: it is about the flexibility of power plants, system stability for Swissgrid and the question of how renewable energies can be embedded in a reliable grid. Water, wind, sun, batteries – everything has its value and its price.

Between calm and the pulse of the marketsAnyone walking across the trading floor senses both at once: on the one hand, the calm of focused work; on the other, the pulse of global markets, which demands decisions every second. For Mark Commerford, that is precisely what makes it so appealing: “It is a very exciting area. Many factors are at play at the same time: mathematics, risk, politics, weather, technology. You always have to be ready to deal with the unexpected.” Mark Commerford has been working as Head of Structuring & Pricing at BKW for just over a year. The 38-year-old grew up in the USA but speaks fluent German. He studied mechanical engineering and Energy Science and Technology at ETH. Before joining BKW, he worked in the energy sector and in environmental consulting. Commerford lives near Zurich and therefore appreciates the fact that BKW has had office premises in Zurich since summer 2025. “I’m in Bern once or twice a week.” The team has an international character. English is being spoken more and more. But no matter where his colleagues are working at any given time, whether in Bern, Zurich, Lausanne or Singapore, where there has also been an office since autumn: “Everyone is united by the same task: turning data and analyses into decisions that have an impact.” Commerford himself works in the area of long-term power purchase contracts, known as Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs). A business that is becoming increasingly important for BKW.

“It never gets boring”The employees on the trading floor agree: their workplace is demanding. But it is also inspiring. “It is never boring,” says Olivier Crevoiserat. “Whether geopolitical crises, extreme weather or new technologies: something is constantly happening that moves the market. And we are continually developing new tools to deal with it.”As you leave through the secured doors, your gaze falls once more on the rows of screens. Some employees sit in front of six monitors, where figures and diagrams flash up. Everything seems calm – and yet you know: here on the fourth floor, the future is being traded every minute.

Different profiles – one common goalMany different personalities and cultures come together on the trading floor. There are the analysts, who turn data into complex models. Without them, there would be no basis for decision-making. Alongside them are the balancing group managers, who ensure that planned feed-ins and deliveries in the grid are balanced at all times – often under enormous time pressure. Then there are the traders, who act depending on the time horizon: from Pietro Sirotti, who reacts at short notice to changes in the weather and price fluctuations, to Mark Commerford, who calculates long-term contracts over many years (more on Pietro Sirotti and Mark Commerford in the main text above). And last but not least, the asset managers, who take a strategic view in planning how a flexible power plant can be optimally deployed in three or five years’ time.

Article from the employee magazineThe report “Electricity never sleeps” is from the current issue of the employee magazine “Inmotion”. You can find the full issue via this link.

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