Warsaw (Puls Biznesu) – Electrabel worries that its Polaniew power plant may be again controlled by the state.
Law and Justice (PiS), the ruling party, has prepared a bill concerning the national security. The bill provides that in emergency, companies may be made to render services or even be again acquired by the government with a compensation paid out to the investor. Belgian Electrabel, the owner of Polaniec power plant, fears that the company it privatized may be one of the first victims of the new law.
“We are the only fully operational power plant in the country because we decided for modernization works in winter. On Monday we were forced to switch off two blocks because of the lack of water for cooling. Immediately, journalists appeared. It seems like we are closely watched to prove that a private power plant is not able to provide energy security. Someone is trying to disturb our image, I’m wondering who’s that”, Grzegorz Gorski, Electrabel Polska CEO said.
In his opinion, state-owned power plants so not have to explain when they have problems. According to the new law implemented on June 1, the operator may make power plants to produce energy. The price amounting to PLN 117 (EUR 29.9) for every MWh, does not cover the production costs.
“No wonder that companies are looking for explanations to stop production”, Grzegorz Gorski added.
Jacek Drezewski, Vattenfall Heat Poland CEO and the member of the board of the Association of Energy Private Employers, agrees that the mechanism is not normal.
“If the operator offered a market price to the Polish power plants, it would not have to import energy from Germany where it costs PLN 680 for MW. We import to Poland 10,000 MWh worth EUR 1.7m”, Jacek Drezewski said.
Marek Wiacek, the sales director in state-owned PKE power plant, has not heard about simulating problems but he admitted that PLN 117 for MWh is too low. According to PKE’s estimates, the costs amount to PLN 190.
The Polish power plants have capacity of 34,600 MW. In winter, the demand amounts to 24,400 MW while in summer it is 19,000 MW.
(PLN 1 = EUR 0.256)