On 16 October, President Edgars Rinkēvičs met with Minister of Climate and Energy Kaspars Melnis at the Riga Castle to discuss energy security issues, possible solutions to mitigate the impact of energy price increases, including the issue of electricity system tariffs.
During the meeting, they discussed the current situation in the field of natural gas supply in Latvia, in particular in relation to the damage and suspension of the Estonian-Finnish gas interconnector "BalticConnector". Although Latvia's natural gas supply is not at risk at the moment, it is necessary to assess the long-term energy security risks. "Energy security is a priority for Latvia, so issues related to the identification and mitigation of critical infrastructure vulnerabilities and associated risks must be treated with particular care. This applies not only to gas, but also to electricity," said E. Rinkēvičs. During the meeting, the parties discussed how to ensure a safe disconnection of energy users from the Russian and Belarusian electricity supply (BREL) grid in 2025.
President Rinkēvičs listened to the information provided by the Minister on the solutions found and planned to provide support to households in connection with the increase in electricity distribution and transmission tariffs, as well as to ensure that the State would be ready to provide targeted support in case of a recurrence of the extremely high increase in energy prices due to global factors in the next heating season. E. Rinkēvičs welcomed the progress made in the regulatory framework for tariffs for regulated services, which will allow for reasonable and predictable tariff increases for households in the future.
