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EC: the contracts through which Hidroelectrica provided energy to 12 companies are not state aids
The contracts for the delivery of energy signed by Hidroelectrica, producer owned by the state, with traders from the domain of energy and clients in the industrial sector did not read as state aid, decided the European Commission, after a thorough inquiry.
‘After comparing the prices included in the respective contracts with the prices of other contracts signed at bilateral level, comparable on the electricity market, the European Commission stated that either the contracts were signed according to the market conditions, or in the case the tariffs were under the level of the market that the Romanian state could not be considered responsible for the tariffs. As a result, the commission said that none of the contracts under investigation did not involve a state aid in the sense of art.107, (1) from the Treaty regarding the functioning of the European Union’a EC press release shows.
Thus, the analysis showed that Hidroelectrica practised prices according to the key price on the market applied to the industrial clients ArcelorMittal and Alro,as well as to the electricity traders Alpiq RomEnergie, AlpiqRomIndustries, EFT, Electrica, Electromagnetica, EnergyHolding, Euro-Pec.
The prices applied to the companies Luxten-Lighting, Electrocarbon and Elsid were lower than the key price of the market. Even so, the inquiry did not say that the decision to offer favourable conditions to those three clients, private actors with relatively small impact, can be attributed to the Romanian authorities, according to EC.
Hidroelectrica is the main producer of electricity in Romania,the ministry of economy has 80% of the company, and the Proprietatea Fund approximately 20%.
The contracts examined by the European Commission aims at 12 private buyers, including 8 traders of electricity and the biggest consumers of electricity in Romania, Alro namely, the aluminium producer, as well as the company ArcelorMittal The majority of the contracts under investigation by the Commission ate from the period previous to accession to the European Union – 2007. Only one of these contracts is still in power.
On 21 April 2015, in a separate decision,the Commission concluded that the contracts signed between Hidroelectrica and Electrocentrale Deva, on the one hand, and Hidroelectrica and Termoelectrica, on the other hand, the two companies were offered an unjustified economic advantage, thus breaching the EU norms norms regarding the state aid.