Electricity price may go up 5-6 pc in 2008

The electricity price paid by end-users may be raised, as of 2008, by five-six per cent, after the CO2 emission quota for Romania was cut down, chair of the Chamber of Deputies Committee on Industries and Services Iulian Iancu stated in a seminar on European policies and regional development. As regards the initial price, Iancu believes the same decision may push electricity prices up by as much as 16 per cent. According to the official, the most affected sectors will be the aluminium industry, glass processing industry, wood industry or fertiliser industry.

In fact, head of the Directorate for Energy Policies in the Ministry of Economy and Finances Alexandru Sandulescu believes that reduction of CO2 quota requested by the European Commission is unfair as to producers. "What I see as the most serious problem is the retroactive application of the EC decision, i.e. for 2007. It is unacceptable for a decision to be applicable to a past period; this is against a law principle.

Producers couldn't have known, early this year, what allocation quota Romania will have," Sandulescu explained recently. The European Commission has decided to cut down by 10 per cent the 2007 allocation quota proposed by the Government. According to the MEF director, the Romanian State may now be sued by producers, given that they based their 2007 production plans on the National Allocation Plan.

The European Commission approved in October a quota of 75.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions for 2008-2012, i.e. 20.7 per cent less that what Bucharest had requested.

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