Oblenerho for Export Leave Consumers Cold
On March 2 Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko returned to Kyiv from London, where he negotiated with European Bank for Reconstruction and Development President Jean Lemierre. According to Mr. Yushchenko, the talks mainly focused on the privatization of Ukrainian oblenerho (regional electricity) enterprises. In addition, UNIAN quotes the premier’s spokeswoman Natalia Zarudna as saying that the two sides discussed the problems of Ukraine’s economy, nuclear safety, and reforms in the energy sector. According to Valery Lytvytsky, leader of the prime minister’s group of advisors, the EBRD emphasizes it will discontinue funding energy programs unless the Paris Club decides to restructure the Ukrainian debt. It is for this reason, Mr. Lytvytsky said, that one of Mr. Lemierre’s pieces of advice is that Ukraine concentrate its attention on energy problems.
Shortly before this, Mr. Yushchenko said the situation on this country’s energy market is becoming manageable. Clearly, this information was designed not so much for domestic consumption as for that of foreign investors.
The premier cheered the latter, saying that the coal reserves of thermal power plants are continuing to grow and have reached 995 million tons because power stations a daily acquire 88,000 tons of coal and burn 70,800 tons, which causes the coal reserves to rise by an estimated daily 2% even in winter. In the words of Mr. Yushchenko, the natural gas consumed from the beginning of the year has been paid for at 53-54% and even almost 65%, taking into account privileges and subsidies. Payments for the electricity consumed in the same period varies, the premier thinks, with the form of ownership employed by the given oblenerho. These make up 72.9% in the state-run energy companies, 64.3% in the companies whose shares the state has handed over to private owners, and 65% in privatized firms. According to the prime minister, the worst situation with energy- related payments exists in the Crimea (48%), Chernivtsi oblast (52%), and Donetsk oblast (55%). It will be recalled that, according to the Enerhorynok state enterprise, nationwide overall debts for supplied electric power reached UAH 11 billion at the beginning of 2001, including 6 billion to the electric companies, over 3 billion to the Enerhoatom, and almost 400 million to hydroelectric stations.
The Day’s expert, former Energy Minister Oleksiy Sheberstov, is not inclined to optimism. According to him, this country owes the current relative energy stability to an unusually warm winter, full utilization of nuclear energy facilities, and the European Commission’s grant won by the Itera company, which made possible the loading of 800,000-kW units at two thermal power plants. As to coal reserves, we can only note, he thinks, that they are no longer being depleted. According to Mr. Sheberstov, they decreased by 283,000 tons in February, although the last week really saw the termination of this process stop and “even small daily surpluses of five to eight thousand tons.” The experienced energy expert says that, in spite of these “temporal fluctuations,” the main defects of the Ukrainian energy system are being further aggravated instead of being corrected. In his opinion, the defects include low receipts of money for the electric power consumed (the energy market received only 50% of what was due in the first 26 days of February) as well as the precarious technical condition of thermal power plants, where, Mr. Sheberstov says, it is a problem even to buy a light bulb. He blames this on the government which uses all its energy market money to buy fuel.
Meanwhile, another threat now hangs over the Ukrainian energy sector. As we know, on January 16 Itera discontinued supplying natural gas to four Ukrainian electricity companies because of their outstanding debt of $64.2 million. The situation has changed very little since then. Itera has received debt restructuring and payment schedules from only two Ukrainian generating companies, Tsentrenerho and Dniproenerho, Interfax-Ukraine reports, but even these schedules were not duly accepted and coordinated. The government in fact pretends not to have anything to do with this problem. By the end of February, the generators’ debts to Itera were still about $51.7 million plus the almost $14-million last year’s debt to Itera-Ukraine. The Day’s source at the Ministry for Fuel and Energy reports Itera is going to try to recover the debt through a legal action. It is not ruled out that the company will go to the court of a third country because the time has come: even domestic suppliers of natural gas are suing the generating companies.
