The Management Board of Eesti Energia has approved a forward-looking procedure for the billing of electricity and network services after Estonia joins the euro zone. The approved procedure lays down the principles for converting current tariffs into euros. The principle used for converting all electricity and other tariffs into euros is to divide the tariff by 15.6466 and the resulting figure is “cut” after two decimal places. In order to ensure that the transition to the euro does not cause a price increase for customers, Eesti Energia will round the figures downward, i.e. in the direction that is beneficial for the customer. “In converting the tariffs there are two generally used options. Eesti Energia has chosen the option that is most beneficial for customers,” said Tiit Nigul, head of Eesti Energia Service. “Although this principle will slightly reduce the income of the service provider or producer, we found that Eesti Energia should adopt the recommendation of the Bank of Estonia in rounding the prices in a way that is more beneficial for consumers,” emphasized Nigul. Eesti Energia has been showing the total amount in euros on customer invoices from the beginning of this year. The payable amount has been multiplied by the official exchange rate of the Bank of Estonia. In the near future, Eesti Energia will also present prices in euros for products and services both on its Internet website and, gradually, in print and other information materials. Although there has been a delay in adopting the euro as the official currency of Estonia, this will give the customers more time to get used to the new currency and prices being shown in euros. “This will make it easier for customers to compare local electricity tariffs and the prices of other electricity-related services with the tariffs of other euro zone countries,” noted Tiit Nigul. “We need to raise public awareness regarding the changing principles in the electricity trade, and this is made easier by using euro zone countries and comparable currencies as examples,” he added. Eesti Energia plans to complete the transition of all of its customer service business processes as well as the installation of corresponding IT support necessary for the transition to the euro by the beginning of next year. Although Estonia will not yet be able to join the euro zone at that time, we need to be ready for the euro three months before it enters into force in Estonia. Major euro-related IT developments were planned to be carried out in the summer and autumn of 2006. Example of converting tariffs into euros:
Daytime tariff for electricity (EN3): 28.10 cents/kWh
28.10/15.6466 = 1.795917323
1.79¦5917323 = € 1.79 euro cent/kWh

Iveri Marukashvili
Eesti Energia Communications Specialist
Tel.: +372 71 51 218
GSM.: + 372 53 411 813
E-mail: [email protected]