The contract with the Kuchurgan power plant for the purchase of electrical energy will be renegotiated, said Minister of Energy Victor Parlicov. According to the official, Chisinau will try to obtain a smaller purchase price than the current price of US$73 per MW. But the constitutional authorities do not have illusions about a very low price as the Transnistrian region covers its deficit by selling electricity to the right side of the Nistru and the production manufactured by the Rybnitsa steel works, IPN reports.
The minister said that the delegation of the official Chisinau will try to negotiate a better purchase price of power, which will later influence the power rate for citizens down. The Ministry of Energy’s priority is to obtain a long-term contract.
“We aim to renegotiate the contract with the Kuchurgan power plant so that we have a better price and a longer period of validity of the contract and this way have predictability and create preconditions for reducing the charges. But the charges are within the remit of the NAER. In the negotiations with Tiraspol, we will try to obtain the best price. We must realize that the region’s resistance capacity also depends on this price. If we propose a price that does not save them, which does not yield sufficient money to the budget, they will not accept. Also, the environmental permit for the Rybnitsa steel works is a condition imposed by the Transnistrian side for having a dialogue,” Victor Parlicov stated in the program “Voice of Bessarabia” on Vocea Basarabiei channel.
Under the current agreement with the Transnistrian side, Chisinau concedes the whole amount of gas supplied by Gazprom in exchange for a preferential price of electrical energy purchased from the Kuchurgan power plant. Victor Parlicov said the Government is considering fully halting the purchase of gas from Russia, but such a scenario would oblige Chisinau to manage the energy crisis in the Transnistrian region.
“It depends on the volumes that will be supplied by Gazprom. We do not rule out the possibility of a halt in supply of gas from Gazprom a particular moment. Currently, the gas that is supplied to the left side of the Nistru is actually free. The benefit out of this situation is to have electrical energy at a better price than the alternative one. We need to take into account the consequences of the termination of the contract with Gazprom. There will be consequences that we will need to absorb on the right bank. On the left side of the Nistru, there are 250,000 people and most of them are citizens of the Republic of Moldova. They will not leave for Moscow or Ukraine. We will have to take care of them,” stated the minister of energy.
The contract for the purchase of electrical energy with the Kuchurgan power plant was signed on December 3, 2022. Under the agreement, Energocom buys from the left side of the Nistru 244 MW of power, which is 88% of the electricity needed by the right side, for US$73 per MW.
