Profit stood at almost EUR280 million compared with EUR60 million losses in the previous year, according to the data sent by the companies and ZF’s calculations.
Hidroelectrica was the country’s largest power producer, with a 28% market share, according to the reports of Romania’s energy market watchdog ANRE.
The company saw revenue up about 30% and also posted gross profit of EUR204 million compared with EUR114 million losses of 2012. According to national grid company Transelectrica data, Hidroelectrica’s production increased by more than 20% on 2012.
Last year’s results of Hidroelectrica were directly influenced by the steps the company took after filing for insolvency for the first time. It went insolvent on June 26, 2012, brought down by the loss-inducing bilateral contracts, by retooling projects that did not have any contribution to electricity generation and the various contracts for overpriced works.
After taking this action, Hidroelectrica terminated the bilateral contracts of six of ten clients, and sold the rest of the power on the energy exchange. The spot electricity prices went down 28% to EUR35.3, while the bilateral contract price was 18% lower, EUR42, last year, according to OPCOM energy exchange data. Still, the prices were higher than the EUR30 Hidroelectrica was selling electricity for to Energy Holding and Alpiq. Hidroelectrica exited insolvency in June 2013, but relapsed in February 2014.
Nuclear power producer Nuclearelectrica (SNN.RO), which supplies enough electricity to cover 20% of Romania’s, needs posted growth of almost 18% of its revenue to EUR437 million, and record net profit of about EUR96 million, compared with the EUR4.2 million of 2012. The company reports showed the production of the two generators in the Cernavoda power plant was almost equal in the two years. What is the explanation for the result then?
“The share of electricity sold by SNN on the regulated electricity market stood at 34.6% of the total electricity traded on this market (ANRE data). The gradual deregulation of the electricity market continued in 2013 and ANRE cut SNN’s regulated market quota to 50% of the 2013 production, setting a new regulated price. In 2013, therefore, SNN was a more important participant to the competitive market, which led to a much higher profit margin compared with the previous year,” reveals the company’s 2013 report. Nuclearelectrica sold 11 TWh of electricity last year.
Whereas Nuclearelectrica sold 7.5 TWh to consumers on the regulated market in 2012, last year it sold 5.3 TWh. The rest went to the free market and helped drive its financial results up since the regulated price was 142 lei (EUR32) and the average price it got on the energy exchange was RON188.7 per MWh.
Complexul Energetic Hunedoara (Hunedoara Energy Complex), too, saw significant increase in revenue to almost EUR190 million in 2013 from EUR52.2 million in 2012. The growth was not because of its operations, but because of the changes in its structure. The 2012 data only show two months of activity, as the company was established in November that year. At the time, it only consisted of the Mintia and Paroseni thermoelectric power plants, the only ones running on bituminous coal in Romania.
“On August 1, 2013, the merger by absorption of the Societatea Nationala a Huilei (National Bituminous Coal Company) by Complexul Energetic Hunedoara took place,” said the representatives of the company generating about 5% of Romania’s power production.
OMV Petrom (SNP.RO), the only oil and gas producer in Romania, was one of the top energy generation companies last year, too, with 6.3% market share, according to ANRE. The company has a gas-fired 860 MW thermoelectric power plant in Brazi, which started operating in the summer of 2012 after a EUR530 million investment.
Petrom said it sold 2.74 TWh from its Brazi power plant. The company does not publish separate results for this entity, including it in its energy and gas division instead.
Out of the 2.74 TWh, 1.5 TWh went to the regulated market at a price of RON169 per MWh. The power plant collected some EUR110 million last year based on the amount sold and market prices, ZF has calculated.
Besides the electricity generation companies, wind power producers contributed more than 8% of Romania’s total electricity production, according to Transelectrica, double the level of 2012. Wind farms supplied 4.7 TWh of power last year.
As domestic demand for electricity dropped by 5% in 2013, Romania’s electricity producers doubled exports. Demand is still dwindling in 2014 and prices are not showing any signs of a rebound.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)