Liberalizovaný trh nemusí pritiahnuť novú konkurenciu, ak sú marže súčasných hráčov málo atraktívne. Hrozba ich vstupu však bude minimálne pôsobiť na skvalitňovanie ich služieb a bude brzdiť zvyšovanie cien, povedal pre Slovak Spectator Radovan Ďurana z INESS.
Energy – Suppliers need better offers to draw customers,
experts say
THE EUROPEAN Union opened the door to the liberalisation of Slovakia’s
household electricity market in July, but Slovak customers are unlikely to
switch electricity providers earlier than next year.
And even with multiple choices, customers are still not expected to switch
between distributors in droves, because there will only be minimal differences
between their price offers, experts say.
The Office for the Regulation of Network Industries (ÚRSO) says the
legislative conditions for customers to change their electricity supplier are
now in place, which means the conditions for an open market are in place,
office spokesman Miroslav Lupták said.
"However, in order to get customers to change their supplier, the
potential new supplier must offer households more attractive prices than their
current supplier offers," Lupták told The Slovak Spectator. "Only
this can make the process of switching suppliers worth it for the
consumer."
The new supplier must offer consumers a maximum price that is lower than the
maximum price regional suppliers are allowed to offer, he said.
"It is up to suppliers how they achieve this goal: through better
electricity prices, through negotiations with the producer, or through consumer
trade policies," he said.
But the regulator’s office has not yet received a single request for
competitive household electricity prices from companies operating on the
electricity market, he said.
Regulator must approve prices
July 1 was the first day the electricity market opened up completely in
Slovakia. That was when households also got the right to choose their own
electricity distributor. For industrial customers, the market has been
liberalised since July 2004.
Previously, electricity distribution was regionally based. Západoslovenská
Energetika (ZSE) could sell electricity only in western Slovakia, Stredoslovenská
Energetika (SSE) in central Slovakia, and Východoslovenská Energetika (VSE) in
eastern Slovakia.
Distribution companies can only sell electricity after the regulatory office
approves their price lists. They submit their maximum prices for the office’s approval.
Households will thus only get a real choice in their electricity distributor
once the office approves price lists for distribution companies that have not
operated in their region before. The office only approved the first of these
price lists for 2007 in mid-November, and the approval of price lists for 2008
is expected at the end of the month.
VSE might pick up clients from other electricity suppliers, spokeswoman
Andrea Danihelová said, as the 2007 price list for regions where VSE hasn’t
operated before has already been approved. But first clients must cancel the
services of their previous supplier and go through a process that could last
two months. Some consumers have already called for price information, but not
many, she said.
"We do not expect major shifts of consumers between electricity
suppliers," Danihelová told The Slovak Spectator. "The prices will
not be considerably different, so the suppliers will have to differentiate
themselves by the services they offer."
The spokesman for ZSE, Ján Orlovský, said that even though it is legally
possible to change suppliers, customers haven’t seen the need to make the
switch yet. There is only a difference of a few hellers per kilowatt hour (kWh)
between the prices distributors, he said.
"The situation on the electricity market and the maximum prices set for
households are not motivating enough for the consumer," Orlovský told The
Slovak Spectator.
"The motivation for changing the supplier is mainly the price, but a
slight regional difference is expected," he added.
A consumer living in Zvolen, in central Slovakia, can order the services of
ZSE today, Orlovský said. But not many customers are expected to make the
switch yet.
"The price offered by our daughter company, ZSE Energia, for 2008 has
been submitted to the regulatory authority for approval," he said.
"Considering the amount of time left in 2007, real changes to the
suppliers will presumably only be made during 2008."
ZSE has received only a few applications to change suppliers. After the
regulator approves the price lists for other regions, the company will send
them to consumers that are registered on the ZSE customer line. Customers
decide at that point whether they are interested in the offer, Orlovský said.
Other factors affect prices
Opening up the market isn’t enough to
lower electricity prices on its own, said Radovan Ďurana of the Institute of
Economic and Social Studies (INESS). If there is a real shortage of
power-producing resources, Slovakia cannot expect a drop in prices.
Moreover, the growing standard of
living, with people buying more electrical appliances, pushes up the demand for
electricity, and consequently the prices, he said.
Even in an open market, new, small
distributors would hardly be able to purchase electricity for better prices
than the large ones – ZSE, SSE and VSE – and none of the large distributors has
come up with a strategy to lure households from other regions, Ďurana said.
And the regulatory office still
approves maximum electricity prices, which means that new distributors would
not be able to enter the market with better and faster services for higher
prices.
"The last factor is that Slovak
households are still not used to analysing the price structures they can use to
choose (a distributor)," he told The Slovak Spectator.
The Association of Slovak Consumers recently complained that electricity
pricing is extremely confusing.
"The consumer needs to know the price of a product or service (to make
a choice)," the association said in an official release. "This
applies to the vegetable market, but we do not know why it does not apply to
electricity."
Electricity prices consist of several factors, and the amount that
households pay is divided between the electricity producer, the distributor and
the transmission system. There are also different fees for burning coal or
other forms of energy production.
But the electricity bill does not tell consumers how much they pay to each
of those, the association said.
The association is calling on the regulatory office and the Economy Ministry
to set electricity prices for 2008 in a way that lets consumers know how much
they pay for the distribution and how much they pay for the electricity itself.
But Ďurana of INESS said he still
believes liberalisation can bring an improved quality of services. While price
drops cannot be expected, the pace of price hikes might slow down.
"The room for savings and
efficiency has been created," he said. "The mere possibility of a new
distributor appearing on the market will push the current distributors to
increase the quality of their services.
"In other words, if the ‚old‘
distributors made an above-average profit, new businesses would quickly enter
the market to take a bite out of their business."
By Marta Ďurianová
Spectator staff
The Slovak Spectator, 11/26/2007
