votes: Will the January gas crisis affect PRE and its position on the energy market Did the crisis of such proportions in a different energy sector have some direct effect on PRE and its sales activities No not at all The problems with the transmission of gas to the Czech Republic did not affect Pražská eneregetika a s in any way Our explanation is that end gas consumers in the Czech Republic had no problems with supply and did not have to search for an alternative energy source among which we can also partly include electricity In January Pražská energetika recorded an increase in electricity consumption by about 3.4 in comparison with the same period last year However this increase must be ascribed to the climatic conditions as the winter this year in January was more severe than last year The same sort of figures also applied to February There is talk of the need for a common energy policy in response to this crisis Do you agree with this What would you say about the creation of a European agency for regulating the price of energy In my opinion Europe needs a common energy policy Its priority is certainly the question of sources whether gas will flow into Europe from Russia or from the former Soviet Republics such as Kyrgyzstan But are such regions stable enough politically It is also a question of considerable investment into building gas lines There are many more of these questions that a common energy policy in Europe should respond to So far Europe has been concentrating on creating an electrical energy market which is a relatively easier task If you ask about creating a European agency for regulating the price of energy then I am decidedly against any regulation of the price of electricity itself This negates the whole idea of a competitive environment and economic competition Regulation should only continue to apply to wires i e the transmission and distribution networks What would your attitude be to the energy sector being protected by a common market You probably mean the creation of one electricity market This is probably not so simple I don’t think all the conditions have been created for a completely single market For example today individual countries are to a certain extent limited to so called cross border profiles i e the flow of electricity is limited to An interview with Mr Drahomír Ruta Chairman of the Board of Directors of Pražská energetika a s PRE 82 Leaders Magazine II 2009 SERVICES TAILORED TO THE NEEDS OF CUSTOMERS Photo Archive
Leaders Magazine II 2009 83 a certain extent by the capacity of electricity lines between individual countries This is not just a question of administrative decisionmaking but of highly expensive and long term investments On the other hand today we often hear that we are not living in an isolated environment that the demand for electricity and its price in neighbouring Germany as well as Slovakia and Hungary is also having an impact on our market Obviously a single European electricity market will be created in future and we will see how it will surprise us Do you think there could be full liberalisation in the field of energy in Europe sometime in future or in view of the important strategic and safety aspect of this sector energy should always be regulated by the state I always think that there is a need to distinguish the networks along which electricity flows and electricity as an actual commodity the price of which is exposed to competitive pressure The price for the use of a network is subject to state regulation and it can be expected that the regulators of individual countries will always keep tuning their notes and unifying regulatory models On the other hand I expect that the price of electricity itself will be the result of the process of supply and demand Full liberalisation in the true sense of the word would require the same rules for all players on the energy market the same technical conditions and full connection of transmission networks thus allowing free movement of electricity throughout Europe and so on On the other hand tightening state regulation in the energy sector would result in the removal of a competitive environment in Europe When we speak about PRE what is its position on the industrial customer market Pražská energetika a s is the third biggest trader on the energy market in the Czech Republic and through its subsidiary PRE distribuce is the provider of electricity to the City of Prague and the nearby town of Roztoky We have over 700 thousand customers and this figure goes up slightly every year Likewise the quantity of electricity sold is rising slightly form one year to the next When we realise that several tens of new traders in electricity appeared suddenly on the market in the last three to five years and some of these are doing very well then someone on the market must be losing out but it is not Pražská energetika Is your strategy to strengthen your position on the industrial customer market or to focus on small customers The main priority is to maintain this position retain our customers Simply speaking we like all our customers the industrial commercial and household customers The clearly less numerous group of industrial customers consumes more than half of the electricity we sell while the hundreds of thousands of Prague households are also important customers to whom we constantly strive to offer new products to make matters concerning electricity simpler for them and thereby provide them with a perfect service In what way are you trying to compete with the dominant company ČEZ in the struggle for industrial and commercial customers We provide a perfect service with an offer that is tailored to the needs of our customers and also personal contact In this customer segment competition has been expanding gradually since 2002 We prepared ourselves very well at the start created teams of sales representatives a strategy department where new products are created and so we have plenty to offer These are special products allowing our customers to use electricity economically This includes advice on how to maintain a high quality wiring network in our customer’s buildings and so on There is a lot more and I am convinced that we are often one step ahead of our competitors Your competitor Moravia Energo is now having problems Is there an opportunity here for PRE to strengthen its position Of course there is In the first place by law we are Provider of the Final Instance for the territory of the City of Prague and the town of Roztoky This means that immediately after Moravia Energo stopped its supplies we took over the position of a provider from them It means supplying electricity for the price fixed by the Energy Regulatory Authority which is a little higher than the price negotiated in standard business contracts This is because suddenly we will incur unexpected expenses supplying such a consumer We have to purchase electricity from somewhere and this operatively purchased electricity is normally more expensive than electricity for a negotiated price from long term purchases There are expenses involving the administration of the new consumption points and so on Obviously we also endeavour to arrange a standard offer of a business contract for the supply of electricity to such customers This means that such a consumer will be provided with cheaper electricity whereas other traders like us also attempt to offer a supply of electricity so we just have to be quicker and more accurate You were the first last year to fix the price of electricity for households Has this product been a success among Czech customers I would characterise the public’s response as very cautious and hesitant More than 10 thousand readers have shown interest when visiting our web pages but in realistic terms only several tens have concluded contracts so far We have extended the deadline by when the product with a two year fixed electricity price can be ordered by two months So we have until the end of April to respond to the market price trend and the steps taken by our competitors If we reduce the price for 2010 we will adjust it retrospectively for those households that have already concluded a contract for the two year product Nobody will lose any money However I must point out that a normal Prague household that does not use electricity for heating and heating water will save about 650 CZK a year by using this product Energy companies are under constant pressure with regard to environmental care Are you developing any programmes in this area A whole range Inside the company in our energy network we have virtually replaced our oil filled transformers where there was the risk of leakage of oil products with new modern dry ones We have no production of our own so we do not pollute the air We have included our main administrative buildings in the European Green Lights Programme which means that we have significantly reduced electricity consumption for lights while maintaining optimum light conditions We have replaced light fixtures with energy saving ones We offer our consumers electricity from renewable sources and we have sufficient sources for both industrial customers and households Some 600 of these so far are consuming electricity from renewable sources We are contributing to the construction for example of photovoltaic power plants and you can find hybrid drive cars in our car park which show how electricity can also be utilised in car transport There are dozens of these environmental protection projects and we will certainly continue with them in future By Filip Hubáček českou verzi naleznete na www leadersmagazine cz
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