Azerbaijan and Russia have broken off electricity trade relations since April 1 amid a dispute over the higher import prices offered by Russia, Marlen Asgarov, the vice-president of Azerenergy (Azerbaijan's state electricity company), told APA-Economics. According to Asgarov, Azerbaijan can resume the electricity selling and purchasing if Russia's RAO UES (Unified Energy Systems) agrees to price its shares of electricity at a favorable rate. The exact amount of the price increase was not specified by the Azerenergy VP, added APA.
The two countries exchanged electricity under a barter contract. As per the agreement inked on January 15, 2007, Azerbaijan was importing 200 to 250 megawatts of electricity (about 1 billion kilowatt a year) in peak consumption hours at a price of about 3.6 cents per kilowatt. The agreement was for the entire year, while the prices were determined for the first quarter only.
This information was originally published April 1, 2007 (www.apa.az). -- 05/03/2007