VILNIUS - Power generation costs may decline in Lithuania next year, leading to a drop in prices of energy to end users, the Lietuvos Rytas daily reported last week.
The study developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency has established that, following the shutdown of the first unit of Ignalina nuclear power plant, the cost-price of power generation in Lithuania should decline from 0.10 litas (0.029 euro) to 0.075 litas per kWh. However, after the closure of the second unit of INPP, which has been scheduled for 2009, the power generation cost price should surge to 0.13 litas per 1 kWh.
The prices of energy should decline alongside the drop in surplus of power generation capacities after the shutdown of the INPP unit, said Arvydas Galinis of Lithuania's Energy Institute.
However, Lithuania's power generation companies and the commission charged with establishing energy prices for end-users refused to comment on a possible decline in prices. Rimantas Milisauskas, CEO of Rytu Skirstomieji Tinklai, the operator of the eastern half of the national power grid, could not predict whether energy prices for end-users would decline amid a drop in costs of generation.
