RIGA - Eesti Energia, the Estonian electricity utility, says it wants to take more than a third of the market in neighboring Latvia, marking the arrival of serious competition in the Baltic energy market.
In a front-page interview with the Dienas Bizness daily on August 4th, Aivars Tihane, head of Eesti Energia's Latvian operations, confirmed that his company expected to capture 35 percent of the Latvian electricity market .
"We have a serious aim to become the leader in the Baltic energy market, as well as enough resources to reach that aim," said a confident Tihane.
Currently, Eesti only offers its services to business clients, but it did achieve a headline coup recently by signing up Latvian fiberglass maker Valmieras Stikla SÄ·iedra (VSS) thanks to its ability to offer fixed-price contracts. If VSS seems to do well out of the deal, it must only be a matter of time before other Latvian companies are tempted to sign up north of the border.
However, not all is rosy in Eesti Energija's home market, where large energy consumers are starting to struggle with their bills. The Horizon Pulp and Paper company is the latest firm to run up significant debts of around EEK 4.2m (EUR 26,000), though Eesti Energija board member Margus Rink confirmed that it is doing all it can to pay what it owes. Nevertheless, the sanction of having its electricity supply cut off remains an option.Horizon's board says it will repay the debt and that its current default is a temporary problem.
