The National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Utilities (Energy Commission) plans to raise price caps on the electricity market once again.
Expert Oleksii Kushch stated this in a comment to the publication Apostrophe, Ukrainian News Agency reports.
Expert Oleksii Kushch stated that this initiative of the Energy Commission violates the decision-making procedure and was introduced solely in the interests of electricity producers.
The expert expressed this opinion, commenting on the Commission's initiative, which plans to increase the maximum limit prices for day ahead market and intraday market in the time range from 05:00 pm to 11:00 pm by almost half - to 15,000.00 UAH/MWh.
"First of all, it should be noted that the proposal of the Energy Market Department of the National Commission for the Regulation of Energy and Power Generation of Ukraine to raise the evening peak price cap appeared on the day of the Cabinet reformatting. That is, the new Minister, Ms. Hrinchuk, did not even know about the tariff surprises," Kushch noted.
According to Kushch, the decision to raise the price caps was made in violation of the procedure, and he called the hearings themselves at the Energy Market Department of the National Commission for the Regulation of Energy and Power Generation of Ukraine "sham".
"Neither consumers nor representatives of the generation that provides PSO were present at this event. There were only large importers and one largest private electricity producer, whose coal-fired capacity operates at its maximum in the time range from 5:00 pm to 11:00 pm," Kushch emphasized.
The expert also explained what such urgency in the double increase in price caps could be related to.
"The period from the end of July and the whole of August is a period of incredible heat in Europe. The demand for electricity at this time is crazy, prices are rising. So in Ukraine, someone decided to "earn extra money" on the hype. And the consumers will pay, as always: industry and the population. Currently, inflation is almost 15%, it is possible that the figure will increase to 20% due to the opaque actions of the Regulator," Oleksii Kushch stated.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on May 27, the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Municipal Services extended the current maximum prices on the day-ahead market, the intraday and balancing markets for another six months.
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