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The Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) of Ukraine will conduct a pre-investigation check of the activities of the National Energy and Utilities Regulation Commission (NEURC) and the forming of the "Rotterdam plus shipping" coal pricing formula, PG Yuriy Lutsenko told a Kyiv press conference Wednesday.
"As a prosecutor general, I have initiated the checking of the formation by NEURC of tariffs under the so-called "Rotterdam plus shipping" formula," Lutsenko said, adding that the Commission should not only set the tariff calculation algorithms but also to monitor their fulfillment.
"I have to establish whether Ukraine procures coal under the "Rotterdam plus shipping" formula. According to previous explanations by Cabinet leaders, it does not, since the formula provides for the price of coal at more than UAH 5,000 per tonne, while at the moment, according to the NEURC decision, the price is about UAH 1,500 per tonne," Lutsenko said.
Read also"Rotterdam plus" minus nuclear energyAlso, according to him, the Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine should be involved in this probe.
"Pavlohradvuhillia [part of privately-owned DTEK holding] is an absolute monopoly on the anthracite market in Ukraine. The establishment of their tariffs must go through a special procedure, according to the legislation on competition," Lutsenko said.
UNIAN memo. In late April of this year, the NEURC approved a market methodology of calculating the wholesale price of electricity, based on the European index of coal prices.
Read alsoUkraine decides to impose state of emergency on electricity marketAccording to NEURC chief Dmytro Vovk, using a new formula, the ceiling price of coal will be formed on the basis of price (API 2 index), which is formed in trading on the stock exchange in Rotterdam (Netherlands), along with the cost of coal transportation to the national market (the so-called "Rotterdam plus shipping" formula). The NEURC believes such calculation method will eliminate manual price regulation, ensure the independence of supplies from the ATO zone and save Ukraine from the problems with the accumulation of sufficient quantities of coal for the heating season.
Read alsoPM Groysman asks security council to address "coal blockade"Meanwhile, a number of experts sharply criticized the proposed formula for forming a price of a Ukrainian-produced coal because, in their opinion, the coal gets overprices in this way, therefore making it possible for Rinat Akhmetov's DTEK energy company, which controls a number of Ukrainian thermal power plants and coal-mining enterprises, to get more profit. They pointed out that because of this, the question may arise of further increase in prices of electricity for the industry and the households.
Read alsoProtesters vow to indefinitely block rail lines to eastern UkraineUkrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has repeatedly instructed the Energy Ministry and other relevant ministries to consider the feasibility of using the "Rotterdam plus shipping" formula. In mid-January 2017, Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Ihor Nasalik said that the use of the "Rotterdam plus shipping" coal formuladid not remove the problem of diversification of supply of fuel to Ukraine.