Bad payers push Transelectrica into "recession"

Transelectrica’s first-half results were negatively influenced by a series of energy producers’ and suppliers’ not paying their debts, and the company is still “in recession”, maintains the company’s general manager, Adrian Băicuși.
The company, operating the national electricity transmission system, reported losses of 58m RON (14m euros) in the first half, in line with Romanian accounting standards (RAS), against profit worth almost 9m RON in the similar period of last year. Consolidated results in line with IFRS, including the company’s subsidiaries, point to losses of 67m RON (16m euros).
“At Transelectrica, we’re still in recession. In the first six months we were faced with arrearage in the energy department. The legislation did not allow us to block those suppliers that do not pay their debts,” Băicuși explained.
He added the positive trend of consumption and energy production registered in the first six months was not reflected in Transelectrica’s result and in the volume of energy it transmitted.
Transelectrica’s main problem is still the high level of foreign currency-denominated loans, which triggered high financial losses as a result of the RON abrupt decline against the euro in June.