It’s important to use a systematic approach to electricity imports problem-solving – Oleksandr Kharchenko

There is a small amount of electricity currently being imported. Therefore, it is important to resolve this issue, in particular in terms of price restrictions on the electricity market that have been introduced.

Oleksandr Kharchenko, Director at the Energy Industry Research Center, expressed his views during a briefing at Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform.

“Imports make up a small amount. To be honest, I would like it to account for much more. The national regulatory authority has to address the issue and tackle it. Unfortunately, there are certain concerns about conscious actions, or in general, of active work by our regulator. Because of the energy price caps, the European market sets ceilings on prices slightly higher than the cap, which is often the case at the time when the import is needed. As a result, even if there is a power supply agreement operating between two parties, an importing party cannot purchase electricity because it has to pay more and exceed the regulator’s limit,” he explained.

According to Mr. Kharchenko, this issue has not been resolved yet, despite the fact that it has been actively discussed by a plurality of experts for several months.

“Since the problem has not yet been resolved, in case a last-minute shortage problem comes up, Ukrenergo will turn to emergency energy aid from neighboring countries. There is a high probability that this assistance will be provided, but it is much more expensive than regular imports. This is the so-called electricity provider of last resort services when the power is being imported at maximum market-based rates on intraday markets in the supply country, established as a matter of urgency. So, of course, it would be way better to approach the import problem systematically, so that at least large companies could import electricity without any problems, and we have enough large production facilities that would be interested in normal power trade agreements with no restrictions that otherwise would be imposed on them,” he added.

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