Energocom has signed an electricity supply contract with the Moldovan Hydro-Power Plant (MHPP) for December at a price of $73 per MWh, and the electricity tariff for household consumers will decrease.
Andrei Spinu, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development of Moldova, has mentioned that the parties have agreed to consider the extension of the contract till March 2023, in order to supply the entire country with electric energy. Andrei Spinu said that under the contract, the power plant will supply approximately 204,000 MW to the right bank of Dniester River. This amount together with bilateral contracts in Romania will be enough for the entire consumption of the right bank. At the same time, Moldovagaz will supply 5.7 million cubic meters of gas per day to the left bank of Nistru/Dniester, including the MHPP. It is agreed that the Emergency Commission and ANRE should decide on a reduction of the electricity tariff for end consumers, and citizens will pay less for electricity. "This agreement is a reasonable compromise to provide residents on both banks of the Dniester River with electricity and gas. The right bank will use gas from our accumulated supply. For the first time, the right bank is no longer dependent on gas supplied by Gazprom. Besides, with signing of this agreement the risk of mass blackouts is reduced," said Deputy Prime Minister. It is notable that before November MHPP, which is located in Transnistria, used to supply up to 70% of Moldova's right-bank power needs at the region's lowest price of $62.5 per MWh. However, the MHPP stopped supplying electricity to the right bank of the Dniester in November of this year after the reduction of Russian natural gas supplies to the region. In this situation right bank Moldova was forced to make up for the deficit of electricity on foreign markets, in particular Romania, by buying it at a higher price. Energocom recently reported that the overall weighted average price of 1 MWh of electricity purchased by the company on the exchange in Romania in one month was 231 euros. Overall, since Energocom started buying electricity from OPCOM (the state company set up to liberalize Romania's electricity market), the Moldovan state company has bought a total of 51.6 million euros worth of electricity in a month. These daily purchases covered 2/3 of Moldova's needs and were also the most expensive purchases in this area. Energocom purchased electricity at the lowest, limited by the Romanian government, preferential price of 450 RON per MW (more than 90 euros), which is below the market price, from Hidroelectrica, OMV Petrom and Nuclearelectrica in Romania through bilateral contracts. It was also said that Complexul Energetic Oltenia supplies electricity to Moldova at a price of 900 RON per MWh, while CET Craiova supplies electricity at 1,000 RON per MWh. Energocom recently announced that starting December 1, the amount of electricity supplied from Romania through bilateral contracts will increase to 5,100 MWh on weekdays and 5,800 MWh on weekends, from a daily requirement of around 10,000 MWh. As reported, the rest of the electricity needed to cover the deficit is purchased by RM through OPCOM on the Romanian power exchange, with prices there varying from 100 to over 300 euros per MWh, depending on the hours. // 05.12.2022 – InfoMarket
