Moldova's Electricity Sector: Between a Renewed Power Purchase Contract and Old Unresolved Problems
Automatically translated summary. The full text is available in Romanian.
Moldovan consumers will keep buying electricity from the Transnistrian region and Ukraine, in a 70% to 30% split, covering about 80% of domestic demand. The state-controlled company Energocom SA again won the contract for 1 April 2018 – 31 March 2019, after a tender that was more transparent than in 2017.
The tender was more open than last year: Red Union Fenosa disclosed details, the Group of Observers, comprising an EU Delegation representative and the EU Senior Energy Adviser, had broader powers, and the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure interfered far less.
Two major problems remain. Energocom SA, which does not generate electricity, again figured as a potential supplier, since the ministry removed on 30 January 2018 the requirement to prove energy availability. Nor is there public information on how it bought power from Moldavskaya GRES and PAO “DTEK Pavlogradugoli”. Energocom's price rose to USD 52.8/MWh from USD 50.2/MWh, though authorities promised no change for end consumers before the regulator's tariff decision. The rules still contain flaws, and keeping the old terms for buying from the Moldovan power plant allows the Russian gas debt to keep growing.
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