The National Agency for Energy Regulation (ANRE) said the press reports that the real price of electric power imported from the Cuchurgan Power Plant should be 1.8 cents per kWh, not 6.78 cents per kWh, as it is provided in the purchase contract for 2015, are erroneous, IPN reports, quoting a communique of the Agency.

The ANRE says the authors of these reports ignored the fact that US$1.8 cents per kWh is the price at which the Cuchurgan Power Plant provides the service to convert energy from natural gas into electric power. Thus, the given price does not include the price of natural gas consumed to produce electricity (US$157 per 1,000 cubic meters), which represents about 80% of the total power production costs or about 5 cents per kWh.

The Agency noted that it possesses concrete information about the prices at which SA “Energocom” and SA “Energocapital”, which hold licenses allowing them to supply electric power at regulated tariffs, sell the electricity purchased from the Cuchurgan Power Plant. These official data show that based on the contracts signed by the sides in 2012-2014, SA “Energocom” sold the electric power produced by the Cuchurgan Power Plant at the price of 6.9 cents per kWh, while starting with January 1, 2015, SA “Energocapital” sold this energy for 6.78 cents per kWh, a decrease of 0.12 cents compared with the previous period.

The ANRE also says that under the law on the conservation of electricity, the power plants with a maximum power output of 35%, as the Cuchurgan Power Plant, can generate 3.3 kWh of power from 1 cubic meter of natural gas.