The site in Bratislava where a new LNG terminal could be built. (source: SME - Jozef Jakubčo)
Slovenské Elektrárne, the dominant electricity provider in Slovakia, will supply households with cheaper power through to 2027 following a recent agreement between the interim government and the company.
The agreement extends the validity of a memorandum signed last February. The memorandum, which today guarantees electricity at a price of €61.2077 per megawatt hour excluding additional fees, was meant to expire this year.
From 2024 the price will increase only slightly, said acting Economy Minister Karel Hirman. The memorandum includes the recalculation mechanisms for each year, and will be updated based on market developments, the TASR news agency wrote. Still, the ministry argues that the price for households will be more favourable than it would have been under a classic commercial contract.
At the same time, the Economy Ministry is working on guaranteeing discounted prices for electricity supplied to other categories of customers.
Enough gas for next winter
The ministry has also announced that there is enough gas in the country's underground storage facilities to keep Slovakia supplied during the next heating season, i.e. through the winter of 2023/24.
Slovakia has secured gas for the SPP firm as the main and key supplier to the Slovak energy market, but also for the Západoslovenská Energetika and Východoslovenská Energetika firms, which currently have full volumes in their facilities, Hirman said. The volume of gas should be enough to last even beyond the end of the next heating season.
“We have an excellent starting position. The level of gas reserves in storage facilities is exceptionally high,” said SPP CEO Miroslav Kulla, as quoted by TASR. In EU countries it is at around 55 percent, but 60 percent in Slovakia. “At the end of this winter, we have as much gas as we would normally have at the start of the following winter,” Kulla said.
LNG terminal in Bratislava
The SPP CEO simultaneously announced that the company has signed new contracts with natural gas suppliers in an effort to diversify and optimise gas supplies. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) deliveries from various markets and terminals in Europe are becoming part of SPP’s portfolio.
A year ago, Slovakia’s dependence on Russian natural gas stood at 85 percent.
Currently, the company provides gas supplies to its customers not only from Russia, via the extant pipeline transport route through Ukraine, but also from the North Sea as well as from western and southern Europe.
On April 4, the Environment Ministry recommended the construction of an LNG terminal in a Bratislava harbour on the River Danube near the Prístavný Bridge. Activists from several environmental organisations protested against the construction of an LNG terminal in the past, and they have not changed their minds. They argue the terminal would undermine climate goals.
The first plan to build the terminal appeared in 2021.
