At the meeting on May 12 this year, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to further strengthen the supervision of power plants that sell generated electricity within the scope of mandatory procurement (hereinafter referred to as MP), including by specifying the procedures by which the State Construction Control Bureau (hereinafter referred to as SCCB) will be able to take a decision regarding the suspension of aid payments to the undertaking if it has not paid the supervision fee provided for in the Electricity Market Law.
Amendments to Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers include a regulation for the procedures by which SCCB will be able to take a decision regarding the recovery of unduly received state aid from an undertaking which sells the generated electricity within the framework of MP, for example, in cases where an annual report has not been submitted, when the power plant does not meet the criteria referred to in the Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers or also when the control group is not provided with an opportunity to perform another inspection of the power plant.
“The Ministry of Economics continues to work actively on strengthening supervision and control of MPC, while assessing potential solutions for legally reducing electricity bills for final consumers in case of emergency. Cancellation of MPC and lowering the overall electricity tariff would be a valuable support instrument during economic recovery for all households and businesses affected by the measures to restrict Covid-19. Therefore, the Saeima has to decide and take a decision on the Ministry of Economics’ previous proposals for amendments to the Electricity Market Law on the cancellation of MPC,” emphasises the Minister of economics Jānis Vitenbergs.
At the same time, in order to promote efficiency in the implementation of MP for electricity and the guaranteed costs for installed electrical capacity, the amendments provide for the possibility for the undertaking using solid biomass as fuel to switch completely or partly from one type of biomass fuel to another upon agreement with SCCB. In this way, undertakings will be able to adapt their electricity production to the availability of fuels on the market as needed by choosing more economically viable alternatives in the choice of solid biomass fuels.
As is known, from 1 January 2020, following the entry into force of the amendments to the Electricity Market Law, the energy policy administration functions, including supervision and control of the electricity MP mechanism, have been transferred to SCCB, which is the responsible authority within the administrative process.