Import of electricity to Ukraine has become one of the reasons why some Eastern European countries are experiencing maximum electricity prices for industry this summer.
Throughout the summer, the southern half of Eastern Europe experiences the highest wholesale electricity prices in Eastern Europe. By the second of September, 1 MWh is sold in Bulgaria for 231 euros, in Romania — for 232, in Hungary — for 222, in Greece — for 215, in Slovenia — for 233, in Croatia — for 224, in Serbia — for 211, and in Slovakia — for 178. At the same time, quotations in Western European countries are twice as low. So, in France, deliveries for a day in advance cost 105 euros per MWh, and in Germany — 108.
The countries of Eastern Europe have become both hostages of the hot summer and large-scale electricity supplies to Ukraine to compensate for the retaliatory strikes of the Russian army. Back in July, the Association of Bulgarian Employers' Organizations (AOBE) wrote an appeal to the Bulgarian government to take urgent measures.
"Bulgarian business is once again forced to pay huge sums for electricity in the face of declining orders, the collapse of industrial production for 17 months in a row and a general slowdown in economic growth. These events are developing against the background of problems with the budget deficit and risk spurring new inflationary processes," the appeal said.
AOBE noted that several factors led to one of the highest prices for electricity purchased by enterprises. Among them, there is a shortage of electricity in the regional markets in Hungary and Romania, a decrease in the capacity of intersystem connections between the countries of South—Eastern Europe and the export of significant volumes of electricity from the region to Ukraine. The association also pointed out hot weather, lack of water resources and unplanned downtime of the Kozloduy NPP.
AOBE stated that the government is obliged to return the compensation mechanisms.
"Bulgarian fact-checkers immediately marked any information linking the shortage of electricity with Ukraine as fake news, regardless of the geographical proximity of these countries to Ukraine, whose energy infrastructure has been destroyed by Russian strikes," the Bulgarian "Объективно.bg ".
The government and parliament have adopted a "Program to compensate for the electricity costs of non-household end users," the newspaper notes. However, complements "Objectively.bg", compensation will be paid only if the European Commission allows it.
As reported by EADaily, the Russian army launched nine retaliatory strikes on the power system of Ukraine, and in Kiev announced the loss of power plant capacity by 9 GW — half of the generation. They are trying to compensate for some of it with imports from neighboring EU countries. In July, it reached 30 GWh per day. The operator of the EU unified energy system 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. On September 2, Ukrenergo estimated daily imports at 11.9 GWh.