Drought is Termoelectrica's best friend

Drought, the enemy that hit Hidroelectrica and Nuclearelectrica hard, has turned out to be Termoelectrica’s surprise ally in the battle to curb losses. The thermoelectric power plants, which are now covering about 84% of the national energy production, have produced twice more in the last two months than in the same time last year, which means approximately 3,200bn ROL (some $97 million) higher revenues for Termoelectrica. “The energy production in July and August was twice higher than last year, when Termoelectrica accounted for about 44% of the total domestic output. If considering an average hourly power of 1,500 MW for a 720-hour period at a price of 1,500,000 ROL/MWh, the monthly extra revenues amount to 1,620bn ROL (about $49 million). If relating revenues to bills, we need to take into account the fact that Electrica’s collection rate is lower at this time of year,” Ion Marcu, general manager of Electrocentrale Bucharest SA, one of the biggest Termoelectrica branches, told Ziarul Financiar. Marcu was Termoelectrica’s general manager until late last year, when the main energy producer was split into four branches, Bucharest, Turceni, Rovinari and Deva. ZF