Competitive electricity market blocked by major producers

The companies resulted from the break-up of former CONEL are hindering the smooth running of a competitive electricity market in Romania, Iulian Florescu, chairman of the National Association of Energy Consumers in Romania (ANCER), said on Tuesday.

“At present, only four companies have bilateral energy supplying contracts concluded, which means the actual opening of the market is only 7.5%,” Florescu specified, adding that Alro Slatina, Azomures Targu-Mures, Casial Deva and Casirom Turda cover a consumption of only 450 MWh, of a potential of more than 1,000 MW.

“We’re having a bit of a problem here: Termoelectrica does not sign contracts with eligible electricity consumers, but exports power at $29 per MW,” Florescu added.

In response, Termoelectrica manager Ioan Ungureanu explained that the company had an export price of about $33, the price mentioned by ANCER being operated for Hidroelectrica’s export contracts. Mediafax