Romania will give state-owned thermal energy companies state aid worth some Eur1.1 billion in compensation for losses caused by the introduction of a new emerging charging system, news agency Mediafax reported Tuesday.
The state aid will be given between 2007 and 2009 to companies operating in thermal energy production, transportation or distribution.
Also, the state aid will not cover more than 45% of the additional costs resulted from the new charging system.
Last year, the authorities replaced the national reference energy price of 107.5 lei ($41.30) a gigacalorie with local prices established by local administrations. Undet he new law, the price cab exceed the guideline set by Romania’s energy watchdog ANRE.
The state aid will be given to companies whose average annual revenues in the past two years do not exceed EUR100 million. The number of companies that are to benefit from the state aid is put at 107.
(Dow Jones Newswires, 06/02/2007)