Analyst Cries Foul on Electricity Suppliers
Electricity suppliers have tied the general service margin to consumption volumes, but in October the general service price increased despite growing consumption, a consumer watchdog group says.
An analyst of Energiaturg.ee, Pirmin Tamm, said suppliers had in the spring attributed rising margins to falling consumption, which they said in turn raises costs.
"Now, in the opposite situation, where consumption increased more than 6 percent from the month before, the margins instead risen," she said.
"In a purely mathematical approach, the margins should have decreased in October according to the power sellers' reasoning," Tamm said.
Households that do not sign contracts with a power provider are automatically given the general service, accounting for 24 percent of consumers in September. In most of Estonia, the designated network is Eesti Energia's subsidiary Elektrilevi, which buys from its parent company.
Eesti Energia said in August that since the number of general service consumers is decreasing with each month, their consumption volume is also decreasing, which will prompt higher margins.
In October, margins were raised by Eesti Energia and Imatra Elekter while VKG margins remained the same.
The general service marginal per kilowatt-hour was cheapest in VKG in October, at 0.65 cents VAT included. Eesti Energia's was 0.82 cents and Imatra Elekter's 0.98 cents.
According to the public price lists, fixed contract consumers saved the most in October.