Electrocentrale București (Elcen) and Transgaz will carry out a study to show whether direct connection of CET to the gas transmission system can lead to cheaper gigacalories for Bucharest residents. Elcen currently spends 100 million lei per year on the distribution tariffs it pays to Engie.

At the moment, the four Elsen CETs in Bucharest are connected to the gas distribution system operated by Distrigaz Sud Rețele (from the Engie group), which in turn is connected to the transport system (main pipelines) operated by Transgaz.

“We need to build new pipelines between CET and the gas transportation system so that we can feed directly from the Transgaz system. In this way, we will no longer pay the distribution commission, which costs us somewhere around 100 million lei per year. In the past, it was also 200 million lei per year, depending on the volume of transit.

The research we will do will tell us if this makes sense. From our first calculations, this makes sense. If we exclude these distribution costs, it will lead to a significant reduction in the price of a gigacalorie,” Claudio Kretsu, CEO of Elcen, told HotNews.ro.

He says he had talks with Transgaz, the Ministry of Energy and the National Energy Regulatory Authority, which showed that the move was in accordance with the law.

“There is already a precedent, namely Oradea, which introduced such a measure. We can take an example from them. At the moment, according to the law, any industrial consumer of more than 100,000 cubic meters per year can connect directly to the gas transportation system. Any CET in the country that exceeds this consumption can do so if possible,” Kretsu also said.

“There were such discussions 10-15 years ago, I don’t know why nothing was done then. Then, from 2016 until a year ago, Elcen was insolvent and could not.

In a few months we will have the results of this study and see what the cost/benefit ratio is. This is not a smoky election campaign. If possible, we will do it, if not, we won’t. At the moment, we have no certainty,” Elcen’s representative added.

When asked if there is a risk of increasing gas distribution tariffs for the rest of the gas consumers, Kretsu said that he could not answer this question:

“My duty is to optimize the business of the company I lead so that the product I supply is as accessible as possible to consumers.”

Kretsu added that he has not discussed the topic with Engie and does not know when the contract between the two companies for gas distribution will expire.

Electrocentrale București works on CETs that run on gas.

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