photo: ZSSK press materials/Slovakian railways might completely lose power supply
A.En Slovensko, the energy supplier for the Slovakian railroads, reported that now it is unable to supply them with current at the price agreed in the tender. Thus, Slovak railways might get cut off the electricity.
However, the Ministry of Transport says that the situation is under control, and negotiations are still going on. The withdrawal date was set for March 18, 2022, so the company is expected to provide more information soon.
"We want to assure the public that the state will use every tool at its disposal to ensure that the operation of key state infrastructure is not compromised," said Ivan Rudolph, director of communications for the Department of Transportation.
A.En's director, Martin Benko, for his part, said they are intensively addressing the situation with Slovak railroads. He added that the problem arose because of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine. The core contract states that the supplier will not change the price of electricity even because of price movements on the exchange, but since the agreement was signed in November 2021, the electricity price has increased from EUR 136 per megawatt-hour (MWh) to EUR 162 for annual contracts and EUR 250 for quarterly agreements.
A.En probably failed to buy the electricity it had committed to supplying the railroads at the prices in effect at the time, and will now not even be able to buy it on the European EEX exchange in the coming quarters of 2022. The company sent out offers to ZSE, SSE, VSE, and SPP, but the companies responded that their priority was their customers and setting individual prices for the current year.
Because Russia invaded Ukraine, energy companies no longer offer fixed prices, only variable prices that change daily. In the long term, prices could increase tenfold on average, but in the general economic interest, the Ministry of Transportation could oblige the company to set the price. If this situation is not resolved, A.En faces going out of business, and ZSE will probably become the electricity supplier.