The Ministry of Energy approved the criteria for inclusion in the "black list" of electricity buyers

The Ministry of Energy of Ukraine has approved the criteria for inclusion in the "blacklist" of electricity buyers, the press service reports.

For violation of the terms of bilateral contracts for the sale of electricity, unscrupulous buyers will be temporarily barred from the next electronic auctions at the Ukrainian Energy Exchange (UEEX).

This decision was made today by the auction committee for the sale of electricity under bilateral agreements, which was held today by First Deputy Energy Minister Yurii Vlasenko. The meeting was attended by representatives of NEURC, Ministry of Economy, Antimonopoly Committee, State Enterprise Guaranteed Buyer, Ukrainian Energy Exchange, state generating companies.

“Today we made a decision that will limit fraud and encourage market participants not to resort to manipulation, but to act according to fair rules. This decision is temporary, until September 1, but it will help to stabilize the situation on the electricity market in the near future,” noted Yurii Vlasenko.

Thus, the auction committee voted to amend the Regulations for organizing and holding an electronic auction for the sale of electricity on the Ukrainian Energy Exchange Commodity Exchange. The changes are based on the proposals of the UEEX, taking into account the comments from NEURC and market participants.

According to the amendments, the seller of electricity has the right to initiate the inclusion in the "blacklist" of a buyer who has violated its obligations under the bilateral electricity purchase and sale agreement. For this, the seller must submit a reasoned application to the organizer of the auctions – the Ukrainian Energy Exchange.

An exclusive list of criteria for making such an application:

•  non-registration by the buyer in the market management system for purchased volumes of electricity;
• lack of timely payment by the buyer (confirmed by a bank statement);
•  termination of the contract by the buyer unilaterally.

In this case, the unscrupulous buyer will not be admitted to the next auctions for the sale of electricity for 6 months.

At the same time, if the buyer has fulfilled the obligations under the contract, then it may again be allowed to participate in the auction. This also occurs upon a written application from the seller and the documents attached to it, confirming the fact of the settlement of the circumstances.

By September 1, the Ministry of Energy, together with NEURC and market participants, should develop changes for the system solution, which will be enshrined in the corresponding resolution of the Cabinet. This decision should establish permanent rules, prevent manifestations of non-market behaviour of participants in the electricity market.

As a reminder, the price of electricity in the day-ahead market as of July 4 fell to a historical minimum in 2021 of UAH 426.06/MWh, which is 35.9% lower than the price prevailing on July 3 and almost 3.5 times lower than the price on July 1. NEURC has taken urgent measures due to manipulations in the electricity market.

Earlier, the Ministry of Energy announced the initiation of the introduction of a "blacklist" for unscrupulous participants in the electricity market.