Energy Suppliers Threaten Producers With Cheap Imports

Electricity suppliers refuse to participate in the auctions organised by the energy production facilities in Olt Valley, which are currently trying to sell the production scheduled for 2010. The coal-powered energy production facilities have slightly decrease starting prices lately, but not below 200 RON / MWh.

Energy suppliers continue to keep producers in chess, as they believe that the minimum starting price of the auctions announced on the OPCOM platforms (the management unit of the energy exchanges in Romania) are approximately 15 per cent higher than the contracts already signed for 2010 in the region and in Romania.

Ion Lungu, President of the Association of Electric Energy Suppliers in Romania (AFEER) told BURSA: "The suppliers are hoping that producers will soon offer prices that are affordable to consumers. The crisis has cut energy consumption by 10 per cent and prices have decreased everywhere in the region. You simply cannot inflate the price of the energy in 2010 so much, using excuses like the prices on the spot market, or the need to make investments or the obligation to buy emission certificates. If producers continue to charge high prices, the pressure on imports will be huge in 2010."

He emphasized that suppliers were not happy to import energy, even if it was more profitable, but would do so if necessary in order to be able to offer competitive prices to their customers. The multinational companies specialized in energy trading and are operating in Romania have already started making transactions for next year, but on foreign platforms, according to the AFEER president.