The first luncheon of 2013 featured Aris Zigurs, Chairman of the Management Board of Latvenergo. According to him, the Latvenergo Group is the largest electricity retailer in the Baltics servicing one third of all the customers in the Baltics, and is also the leading renewable electricity producer in the Baltics and one of the leaders of renewable energy resources in the entire region.

Mr. Zigurs explained that the ability of the Latvenergo Group to attain short-term objectives and long-term strategic goals very much depends on the legislative environment, political and social decisions in the markets of their operation – not only in Latvia, but also in the EU and other countries. Positioning the holding in the Baltic market, diversification of energy sources and balanced development of networks were mentioned as the main strategic objectives of the Group.

Mr. Zigurs was certain that the market liberalization has created more competitive environment, but the key challenge remains to sustain the Group’s market share in the Baltics. He named the participation of households in the free electricity market as the main challenge for this coming year.

Due to insufficient interconnection capacity, the Baltic market is not yet fully integrated into the Nordic market. However, the interconnections are set to change the characteristics of the Baltic electricity market. As the size of the Scandinavian market is considerably larger than that of the Baltics’, the price of electricity will be determined by supply and demand relationship in Scandinavia. By increasing availability of electricity imports from Scandinavia, it will change the pricing principles and offer cheaper electricity to Baltic consumers.

To view the presentation of Aris Zigurs

Gallery