Electricity imports to Ukraine have become one of the reasons why some Eastern European countries are experiencing peak electricity prices for industry this summer.
Throughout the summer, the southern half of Eastern Europe has the highest wholesale electricity prices in Eastern Europe. Until 2 September, 1 MWh in Bulgaria is sold for 231 euros, in Romania – 232, in Hungary – 222, in Greece – 215, in Slovenia – 233, in Croatia – 224, in Serbia – 211, and in Slovakia – 178. At the same time, prices in Western European countries are half as low. Thus, in France, daily supply costs 105 euros per MWh, and in Germany – 108.
Eastern European countries have become hostages to both the hot summer and the large-scale supply of electricity to Ukraine to compensate for retaliatory attacks by the Russian army. In July, the Association of Business Organisations in Bulgaria (AOBE) called on the Bulgarian government to take urgent action.
“Bulgarian companies are once again forced to pay colossal amounts for electricity in the face of falling orders, the collapse of industrial production for 17 consecutive months and the general slowdown in economic growth. These developments are taking place against the backdrop of problems with the budget deficit and risk triggering new inflationary processes.” – said the call.
The AOBE noted that several factors led to some of the highest prices for electricity purchased by companies. These include electricity shortages in the regional markets of Hungary and Romania, declining capacity of interconnections between South-Eastern European countries, and the export of significant volumes of electricity from the region to Ukraine. The association also highlighted the hot climate, lack of water resources, and unplanned shutdowns of the Kozloduy nuclear power plant.
The AOBE said the government had an obligation to reinstate compensation mechanisms.
“Bulgarian fact-checkers immediately flagged as fake news any information linking energy shortages to Ukraine, regardless of the countries’ geographical proximity to Ukraine, whose energy infrastructure has been destroyed by Russian attacks.” – notes the Bulgarian “Objective.bg”.
The government and parliament have adopted the “Electricity cost compensation scheme for non-residential end consumers”, the publication notes. However, Objective.bg adds, compensation will only be paid if the European Commission allows it.
As reported EADaily The Russian military launched nine retaliatory strikes against the Ukrainian energy system and kyiv announced a loss of power plant capacity of 9 GW – half of the generation. They are trying to compensate part of this with imports from neighbouring EU countries. In July it reached 30 GWh per day. The EU grid operator ENTSO-E has set the maximum technical capacity at 1.7 GW per hour (40.8 GWh per day). At the same time, the main suppliers are Hungary and Slovakia, which provide at least 60% of exports to Ukraine. The rest are Romania, Poland and Moldova. As of 2 September, Ukrenergo estimated daily imports at 11.9 GWh.
