“I may say yes [the agreement has been signed] but I cannot disclose such information officially. There are certain confidentiality arrangements. Let’s wait until everything is registered with the Center of Registers,” the Kauno Diena daily quoted Stonys as saying.
Meanwhile, Kaunas Mayor Andrius Kupčinskas told the daily that he had managed to negotiate more during Thursday’s meeting of Kaunas City Council, which lasted several hours, than the board of Kauno Energija (Kaunas Energy), the municipal heat utility, in several months. “The city council sought to negotiate the best possible terms for the city. And we have managed to do that,” the mayor claimed.
Stonys reportedly agreed to amend two provisions of the deal on the purchase and sale of shares. First of all, the deal will no longer include an obligation to buy heat energy from KTE.
Moreover, a provision obliging the buyers of KTE shares to invest 10 million litas (EUR 2.89m) in Kaunas heating grids will be modified.
Meanwhile, the daily notes that these two provisions will probably not be too significant since the amount, which the new owners of KTE have obliged to invest, will not change and no new heat producers that would be able to generate at least 50 percent of heat required for Lithuania’s second-largest city are expected to emerge in the next several years. Therefore, Kauno Energija will continue to buy the bulk of heat energy from KTE.
“It’s true, there are no other large power plants, but it does not mean that we should not take measures to create competitive environment. It’s a signal for all producers that the heat supply market in Kaunas is liberal and anyone can invest,” Kupčinskas said.
Stonys told the daily that he had agreed with Kupčinskas that the mayor would no longer try to block the sale of KTE shares or the construction of a new biofuel-fired boiler house.
“I think that the board of Kauno Energija has negotiated everything possible. We have made the maximum concessions possible,” Stonys said adding that the prices of heat in Kaunas could be lowered by one-fourth. Clement Power Venture vows to invest around 70 million euros in biofuel boilers and total investments will reportedly be close to 300 million litas. New boilers could be put in operation in the summer of 2015.
Gazprom decided to sell KTE in spring.
The local authority of Kaunas owns 92.82 percent of shares in Kauno Energija.
