“We were assured that till October 1 industrial companies would have electricity tariffs reduced by 15-20%”, said Oleg Ayko, Head of raw materials purchasing department of procurement administration, ArcelorMittal Kriviy Rih, who attended a meeting at the Office of the President of Ukraine on the current situation in the electricity market after introduction of a new wholesale energy market model on July 1.
This meeting was attended not only by representatives of the Cabinet of Ministers and relevant agencies, but also by major energy producers, said Oleg Ayko.
“We are grateful to the Office of the President that they invited us to the meeting and gave us an opportunity to outline the position of large industrial companies, because for us it is an extremely acute topic. During my speech I reminded about the existing 25% difference in electricity costs between Ukrainian and European metallurgists – now it is not in our favor. He also asked to take into account the general trend for a decrease in world prices for energy resources and raw materials for metallurgy. Against this background, the increase in electricity costs from July 1 by 20% worsens the position of Ukrainian exporters in the world markets. In addition, such a price spike will have a negative impact on the entire Ukrainian economy. Therefore, the meeting covered various opportunities to reduce electricity prices, some of which had already been mentioned by Andriy Gerus, the President’s representative in the Cabinet of Ministers. We hope that measures will be taken to regulate the energy market, which will help reduce tariffs till October 1, not only for industrial companies, but also for other non-household consumers. In any case, that was the message from the President of Ukraine at the meeting,” he added. (AMKR/Ukrainian metal)