EFFECTS OF THE CRISIS Price of electricity dropped 25%

The average price of electricity traded in 2009, on the spot market (PZU), managed by OPCOM, was 145.07 lei/MWh, down 23% over the average price for 2008.

According to OPCOM data, 6.34 million KWh were traded in 2009 on the Day-Ahead Market, up almost 22% against the one reported in 2008. The total turnover neared 983.5 million lei.

Ion Lungu, the president of the Romanian Association of Electricity Suppliers (AFEER), said: "The drop of the price of energy on the spot market was to be expected given the crisis, which brought with it a reduction of consumption by around 10%. But we did not expect such a steep drop. The low prices on the Day-Ahead Market caused trading volumes to rise significantly, as they were a boon to buyers".

According to Mr. Lungu, this also explains the low trading volume on the Centralized Market of Bilateral Contracts (PCCB), which is also managed by OPCOM. He said that suppliers preferred to buy energy on the spot market, where 2009 prices were a lot lower on the PCCB. This is the reason that, in the final months of 2009, when trading volume on the PCCB should have normally increased in preparation for 2010, operators didn"t exactly rush to participate in the auctions.

The chairman of the AFEER says that in 2010, providers will continue to buy a large portion of the energy that they need on the day-ahead market, as long as the prices on this market are cheaper than on the Centralized Market of Bilateral Contracts. Energy suppliers expect consumption to remain around previous year"s levels. If the economy recovers in the second semester, as expected, consumption may increase by 1%.