Poorer and consuming more energy

A report of the National Agency for Energetic Regulation (ANRE) shows that the electricity consumption in the Republic of Moldova (without the regions from the left bank of the Nistru River) went up by 13.1 % in the first semester of this year compared with the same period of the last year, and reached 1 bln 513.9 mln kWh. According to the cited report, the electricity consumption increased in all five distribution networks from Moldova. ANRE specialists explain this growth by the dynamic increase of demand in these regions and also by the decrease in loss in the distribution networks. In the mentioned period the electricity loss decreased by 17.2% compared with same period from last year, and has represented 14.83% of the delivered electricity. This indicator exceeds the admitted values by 0.71 percentage points. The smallest loss in electricity delivery was recorded in RED North – 12.4%, the biggest in RED North-West – 16.2%, although this region recorded a decrease of 5.7 percentage points in loss. In the distribution networks of Union Fenosa from Moldova these losses have been of 15.3%, by 4.7 points less than in the first semester of 2005. ANRE believes these objectives have been accomplished due to the investments in the modernization in the distribution networks, and other means of reducing the losses in electricity, especially theft. In the first semester of this year, local enterprises have produced by 10 mln KWh more electricity than in the similar period of 2005. The greatest amount of electricity was produced by the 2nd Thermal Electricity Plant from Chisinau – 411.3 mln KWh. According to ANRE data, the electricity produced in local plants covered 30.3 % of the electricity consumption in the first semester of 2006. The rest of the consumption was brought from abroad.