“I am glad and pleased to say that we have taken a great step in improving the competitiveness of Latvian entrepreneurs. The reduction of distribution rates will significantly reduce the costs of Latvian producers and improve the attractiveness of our business environment for foreign investors,” says Ralfs Nemiro, the Minister of Economics, with pleasure.
As it is known, this week the Public Utilities Commission (Regulator) approved the draft tariffs of AS Sadales tīkls for electricity distribution system services, which aims to reduce the electricity distribution service tariff for all end-users from the beginning of 2020.
According to the tariff approved by the Regulator for users, the variable part of the distribution tariff in electricity bills will reduce within 7% to 20% from the beginning of next year, while the fixed part will remain unchanged. It should be noted that changes in the distribution system services tariffs will affect each user differently, because the reduction will depend on the capacity requested by each user and electricity consumption.
The electricity distribution system services tariff approved by the Regulator is expected to remain in force for a period of five years – from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2024.
As it was previously reported, with a view to reducing the financial burden on electricity consumers, the workgroup set up to reduce electricity distribution costs met at the initiative of the Minister of Economics Ralfs Nemiro in spring 2019, in parallel to preparing proposals to address the problem of the mandatory procurement component MPC. The workgroup included the Minister of Economics, the Minister of Finance, the Management Board of Augstspriegumu tīkls (AST), the Management Board of Latvenergo and the Management Board of Sadales tīkls (ST).
Nemiro asked AS “Augstspriegumu tīkls”, AS “Latvenergo” and AS “Sadales tīkls” to prepare calculations, specific proposals and action lines that could reduce the burden of distribution networks in electricity bills of Latvian population and businesses.