Maribor, 24 December (STA) - Responding to the government's appeal, the Energy Agency said on Tuesday it saw no need for now to stop using the new grid charges system and switch back to the previous one. However, it does plan to monitor the situation and, if needed, modify or upgrade the new methodology, the agency told the STA.
An independent energy regulator, the agency currently sees no reason for the U-turn because the first effects of the new system have been so far confirming its predictions and calculations.
High availability of detailed 15-minute metering data from all system users has allowed the agency's new methodology to establish more correct relations between user groups, whose impact on the system varies and so do the costs they accumulate.
After weeks of an increasingly heated debate, the government urged the agency on Monday to start charging the grid fee under the old system again as of February.
The switch to the new system, which entails higher costs in the November-February period, has been met with criticism, especially among businesses.
The agency has been given a deadline, 8 January, to make sure that the old system is in place by February. Once this has been done, the government would like it to prepare another methodology, one that they said would be better than the current.
PM Robert Golob, a former energy executive, criticised the new system along with Environment, Climate and Energy Minister Bojan Kumer, saying that the current methodology punished those who had invested in new green technologies.
The government also called on the agency's council, which appoints those running the agency, to resign since they believe someone should take responsibility for the situation.
The agency reiterated in today's written response that efforts to overhaul the system had been thought through and based on in-depth analysis and very clear guidance from EU legislation, which, in light of green transition, prioritises the efficient use of energy and grid systems.
The new system, which kicked in in October after several delays, is in line with the EU legal provisions that commit national energy regulators to the non-discriminatory treatment of all users, and demand that the charges reflect the costs.
For most households and small businesses the charges will be lower on annual level, the agency again stressed, noting the eight-month period of lower costs that will start in March.
It also dismissed the claim that the new system punishes those generating electricity from renewable sources such as the owners of solar power plants, many of whom depend more on the system during wintertime than those who are not using electricity for heating. Substantial benefits for those owners remain in place, it added.
