Energy Minister on contract with MGRES: Ensures lower tariffs for consumers on the right bank and functionality of the Transnistrian region
The termination of the contract with the Moldovan Thermoelectric Power Plant of the Transnistrian Region (MGRES) would result in higher electricity prices for consumers on the right bank of the Dniester River and a crisis on the left bank. The statement was made by Energy Minister Victor Parlicov on Radio Moldova's "360 degrees" programme. The official does not rule out that the electricity tariff could decrease, after Chisinau signed a new electricity purchase contract with the Cuciurgan power plant, which sets a lower price than that paid in recent months.
"On the one hand, yes, someone might say look, we are subsidizing, paying the costs of separatism. They would be factually right, but we have to understand that this didn't happen yesterday or today, this has been going on for decades. Why are we doing this now? Because others must answer for the past. Why are we doing this now? Because, first of all, the consequences of not buying energy and, let's say, giving up this contract, would mean not only higher prices for us, on the right bank, for our electricity consumers, but it would also mean that we, on the right bank, would have to absorb the consequences of those crises that would be triggered on the left bank," the energy minister said, according to Radio Moldova.
The new contract signed with MGRES provides for a purchase price of $66/MWh, seven dollars less than in the last four months. Victor Parlicov says the lower purchase price could also generate lower tariffs for citizens, but the final decision rests with ANRE.
"Basically I don't want to give a figure. Yes, of course we have some estimates, but our estimates are estimates. The Agency (n.ed. ANRE) has all the levers and knows all the nuances related to tariffs (...) I believe that in the very near future the Agency will communicate what it is going to do, especially since there is also a decision that states that, in emergency situations, they have the possibility to revise these tariffs in an accelerated procedure. So we don't have to wait 180 days, as the law says. I believe that in the coming weeks, consumers will already know what ANRE is planning to do", Victor Parlicov said.
As a reminder, at the end of last week, Energocom S.A. signed a new contract for the purchase of electricity from the Cuciurgan power plant for a period of six months. The price announced by the authorities for one MWh is $66. Later, the National Agency for Energy Regulation issued an information note announcing that it will consider adjusting the electricity tariff.
In April, Chisinau will get from Cuciurgan about 282 thousand MWh per month, which is more than 90% of the right bank's energy needs. Another 17.4 thousand MWh, equivalent to 5.5% of the needs, will arrive in Moldova from Romania. According to Energocom, the authorities will also be able to purchase energy from the Romanian OPCOM exchange at peak times.
