Minister warns Perlas Energija against losing license

The company must immediately cease its unlawful actions, according to VERT. The license to trade electricity will be lost if the company loses the license to trade electricity. Kreivys said at a press conference that the state will be on the side of consumers and will not allow the company to shift losses on consumers.

Kreivys said regulators would draft recommendations for customers of Perlas Energija on what they should do next.

The minister believes that the situation with the company proves that current regulations and criteria for independent electricity suppliers are insufficient. The Ministry of Energy will draft legal amendments raising financial and capital requirements for energy suppliers, whereas they will have high competences in the area of energy.

The minister stated on Monday that the third stage of the liberalization of the retail electricity supply market, planned to be completed by the end of the year, would not be postponed.

We do not plan to delay the third stage. We have to conclude that liberalisation has been successful. The prices paid by consumers are supported by this. Why do we need to delay the third stage in the future? The minister said that if valid reasons arise, we will do so.

The first and second stages of market liberalisation have already been completed, with clients consuming more than 5,000 kWh and 1,000 5,000 kWh of electricity per year. By December 18th, 2022, those who consume less than 1,000 kWh of electricity per year must sign agreements with independent electricity suppliers, while agreements will take effect on January 1st 2023.

The minister expects competition between other independent energy suppliers Ignitis, Elektrum Lietuva and Enefit to intensify as the companies are developing renewable energy projects and their prices are expected to remain competitive.

We have three serious players that have their own power generation capacity. With new renewable energy generation capacities emerging, the competition will intensify in the future. There are huge renewable energy parks built by Enefit, Elektrum Lietuva and Ignitis. They will provide electricity to consumers from there. Competition will grow stronger. Everyone will have to think about the level of prices in the future, said Kreivys.

Perlas Energija announced last Friday that all customers would be moved from fixed-price plans to variable-price plans, which are directly determined by the market.

A total of 180,000 household consumers had chosen Perlas Energija services. After the completion of the second stage of the Liberalization of the retail electricity supply market, Perlas Energija was second in terms of agreements signed with consumers. 15% of customers who consume 1,000 -- 5,000 kWh of electricity had chosen Perlas Energija as their electricity supplier, while 67% opted for Ignitis and 8% for Elektrum Lietuva and Enefit. The two other independent electricity suppliers are EGTO Energija and Bir tono elektra.