Electrica posted a loss of 157.8 million lei after the first quarter of this year (Q1), compared to the same period last year, when the company recorded a profit of 57.9 million lei, according to the Consolidated Report for the first quarter (Q1) of this year sent to the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

The company’s reported revenues amounted to 2.6 billion lei, up 52% ​​compared to the same period in 2021, amid an increase of 818.3 million lei in the supply segment and an advance of 97.5 million lei of revenues from the distribution segment.

During the three-month period ended March 31, 2022, revenues from the electricity distribution segment increased to 760 million lei. Regarding the supply segment, revenues from the supply of electricity and natural gas surged by 818.3 million lei, or 58.9%, to 2.207 billion lei. The change in revenue related to the supply segment is mainly due to the net effect of the increase in retail prices by 116% and the reduction in the amount of energy supplied by 3.9%.

“The cost of energy purchased for supply (including transmission and system services) increased by RON 1,260.7 million, or 137.2%, to RON 2,179.3 million in Q1 2022, from RON 918.6 million in Q1 2021. The main cause of this evolution is the increase of prices on the electricity market and the limitation of the transfer to the final customer of these price increases, thus the prices on the spot market (Day Ahead Market) in Romania increased in Q1 2022 by approximately 320%, compared to the same period in 2021,” the company states in the report sent to BVB, according to Agerpres.

The cost of acquiring green certificates increased by 7,165 million lei, an advance of 4.95% compared to the same period of 2021.

Expenditures on the construction of electricity networks in connection with concession contracts increased by approximately 21.4 million lei, representing 24.6%, to 108.3 million lei.

Expenditures on salaries and employee benefits registered an advance of 1.2 million lei, or 0.6%, to 187.6 million lei in Q1 2022.

The Group’s operating income (EBIT) decreased by approximately 252 million lei compared to the same period last year, reaching a loss of 174.7 million lei, compared to an operating profit of 77.7 million lei in Q1 2021, the evolution of EBITDA being slightly impacted by the increase of the amortization expense by 2.4 million lei, or 2%, shows the quoted source.

“The decrease was mainly due to the performance of the electricity supply segment significantly influenced by the increase in energy costs, plus the increase in electricity costs to cover the CPT for the distribution segment, caused by the difference between the estimated average acquisition cost of energy for own technological consumption (CPT) and the ex-ante price set by ANRE for 2022,” the Report states.

In Q1 2022, the Group supplied approximately 3.5 million points of consumption (both in universal service and last resort and on the competitive market) with 2.3 TWh of electricity, representing an increase of 0.06 % compared to the same period last year.