February 16 (SeeNews) - In SeeNews story "EBRD mulls 325 mln euro loans to Romanian power distributors" dated February 15 please read in the headline "EBRD mulls 65 mln euro loans to Romanian power distributors". (corrects value)
Please also note that the currency units of the loans in paragraphs 1, 2 and 4 have been corrected from euro to lei to comply.
A corrected version follows.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Thursday it is considering providing up to 325 million lei ($70.3 million/65.3 million euro) in loans to Romania’s Retele Electrice Banat and Retele Electrice Dobrogea, two of the country’s electricity distribution system operators (DSOs) owned by Greek utility Public Power Corporation (PPC).
The loans would target network upgrades and increased efficiency, with Retele Electrice Banat set to receive up to 175 million lei and Retele Electrice Dobrogea set to get up to 150 million lei, the EBRD said in a press release.
The financial programmes are still in the exploratory stage, pending approval on March 20.
The loans are aimed at co-financing part of the two companies’ 2023-2024 investment programme directed at network modernisation and digitalisation. The total cost of Retele Electrice Banat’s project amounts to 465 million lei, while Retele Electrice Dobrogea’s costs 402 million lei.
The financing would facilitate network upgrades aimed at enhancing service quality by minimising technological losses and boosting efficiencies. It would also expand network capacity, support the implementation of smart metering, and enhance cybersecurity measures.
The two DSO’s were previously owned by Italian energy group Enel and operated under the names E-Distributie Banat and Dobrogea. PPC acquired Enel’s assets in Romania for 1.24 billion euro, completing the takeover in October, 2023.
(1 euro=4.977 lei)