Industrial electricity consumers are troubled by their delayed negotiations with the main power utility PPC for new high-voltage tariff agreements concerning the current year.

PPC had offered a two-month extension of existing industrial tariff agreements to cover January and February but a further two months, covering tariffs for March and April, are now needed, sources stressed.

Electricity tariff negotiations between PPC and industrial firms have been held up by the power utility’s focus on a bailout-required disinvestment of lignite units.

A first round of talks between PPC and major-scale industrial consumers has been completed.

According to a PPC decision, new tariff agreements, including discounts, will need to be approved at PPC’s general shareholders’ meeting. This meeting has been delayed as decisions concerning the power utility’s sale package of lignite units, representing 40 percent of lignite capacity, will be incorporated into the session.

At this stage, PPC’s general shareholders’ meeting is not expected to be staged any sooner than late April or early May.

Industrial consumers are dissatisfied by PPC’s decision to take the high-voltage tariff agreements to the shareholders’ meeting. Certain industrial sources noted that this course to be followed violates a sector code specifying that tariffs should be determined by respective consumer profiles and negotiations alone.