OREANDA-NEWS. October 7, 2008. From next year, Ukraine plans to deploy a new model in the electricity market of the country. The Wholesale Electricity Market will be reformed in 4 stages with the last stage making the market completely “open”. This was stated in a note of the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

According to NERC, implementation of each stage of the Ukrainian Electricity Wholesale Market concept deployment plan, that was approved by Cabinet decree #1056 dd. 28 November 2007, envisages a “by-stage opening of the electricity market, the first stage will open the market up by around 20%, the second stage by about 40% and the third stage by about 30%”.

During the first stage, the regulatory basis will be adjusted and partial introduction of bilateral contracts in the electricity market will take place. The second stage will implement a special mechanism for balancing the purchase of electricity and sale volumes with the preservation of a centralized pattern of load schedules while the third stage will introduce separate load schedules for the participants in the electricity market and a special exchange for electricity trading will be launched.

During the last stage, all market participants will switch to bilateral contracts for market balance.