The bidding on the Market for the Universal Service (PCSU) from the OPCOM energy exchange, where transaction with electricity for households are being performed, could be again suspended because the tenders do not meet demand at the peak consumption, said on Thursday Victor Ionescu, general manager of OPCOM.
He was asked by journalists if there is a risk that the auction for the fourth quarter regarding the energy for household consumers is to be suspended again, while the supply does not meet demand, just as it happened in the third quarter, according to Agerpres.
“The regulation is very clear: sure there is a risk that this auction will not take place, given that the supplies do not cover the demand and if the limits are stipulated in the regulation that could lead to this situation”, answered Ionescu.
According to him, the supply does not cover the demand on a particular profile, respectivelly, at the peak of consumption.
“The situation that you are referring to, is regarding only a certain profile. For a certain profile, on the peak, there is a situation that the supply does not cover the demand, obviously there is this risk (suspension of the auction – e.n.), as it happened in the third quarter. For the other profiles, the indicative offers cover demand at this time”, said the general manager of the energy exchange.
Ionescu added that OPCOM has a correspondence with ANRE in this regard: “We communicated to ANRE our findings and we are expecting an answer.”
The Centralized Market for the Universal Service is the platform where the suppliers of last resort, ie traditional ones, buy energy for household consumers through quarterly auctions with minimum and maximum prices set by ANRE. If they cannot buy the energy here, they will have to buy it from other markets at prices that are no longer set by the regulator.
In June, the National Authority for Energy Regulation (ANRE), decided to suspended, during the third quarter, the tenders for energy destinated for the households as there are abnormally large increases on the energy markets, said at that time, for Agerpres, Emil Calota, the vicepresident of the institution.
“We took the exceptional decision to suspend the auction, during a quarter, the tender for energy destined to the households, that market for the universal service because, on the one hand, we did not have the necessary technical conditions for the auction to take place and, on the other hand, because we felt price developments in the energy markets and especially in the Day Ahead Market (DAM), abnormally high increases”, explained Calota.
The ANRE official showed that this decision was taken to prevent a strong increase of the consumer invoice.
“Thus, in order to prevent a strong impact on the consumer’s invoice, beneficiary of the universal service, we took this exceptional measure to suspend the auction for a quarter and to prepare better by making changes, adjustments and security features in terms of price evolution for consumers who are beneficiaries of the universal service. However, what I think should be emphasized is that, in exceptional situations, we have to make exceptional decisions”, continued the deputy chairman of the authority.