Warsaw (Puls Biznesu) – Companies which are going to build PGE, Poland’s energy group, may receive part of PLN 5.8 billion (EUR 1.4 billion) of compensation for lost long-term contracts.
The Ministry of Economy is about to end works over a bill concerning the liquidation of long-term contracts in the energy sector. The bill just needs the approval of an internal committee.“Then the bill will be presented in Brussels. Then, all ministries involved will view it and then the government will approve of it, possibly in August”, Tomasz Wilczak, the deputy Minister of Economy responsible for the energy sector said.He believes that the Parliament would approve of the law till the end of this year. The moment of implementation of the new law may be important for building Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE), the Polish energy group. The group may be founded later in order that the companies who are going to build it, also receive compensation. According to EU rules, contracts between companies building one group cannot be treated as public subsidy. PGE is going to consist of PSE, the company transmitting energy, and a party in long-term contracts and energy producers, which were the other parties of the contracts. Therefore, the government may decide to postpone the consolidation till the moment when the new law comes into force. The bill provides the biggest settlement for Opole and Turow power plants – jointly over PLN 4.5 billion. Three other plants, i.e. Dolna Odra, Lublin-Wrotkow and Rzeszow will receive jointly over PLN 1.2 billion. All companies which are supposed to build PGE will get PLN 5.8 billion. Poludniowy Koncern Energetyczny (PKE), which is not going to be merged with PSE, will receive up to PLN 1.5 billion for contracts expiring in the years 2008-12. PAK power plants controlled by Zygmunt Solorz-Zak, the owner of Polsat TV and the main shareholder of listed Elektrim, may get nearly PLN 1.4 billion.