Azerbaijan, UK discuss green tariffs

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Specialists of the Azerbaijan Energy Regulatory Agency and the UK’s Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) have met to discuss "green tariffs", with the support of the UK embassy in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan Energy Regulatory Agency head of the tariff sector Shahin Maharramli provided an overview of the country's energy market and current electricity tariffs. He also spoke about the "tariff methodology" project developed by the agency.

Sharing the UK’s experience in balancing the system costs and types of "green tariffs", Ofgem’s senior manager Sam Rea highlighted the importance of the green tariff incentive mechanism.

Moreover, Ofgem’s policy manager Patrick Gould spoke about the history of "green tariffs in the UK and the results of the research conducted in this sphere in 2021. He also stressed the lack of awareness about green tariffs among consumers and underlined the importance of the right information in this regard.

Gould briefed about the Decarbonization Action Plan and existing regulatory and technical solutions to optimize the green tariffs.

Additionally, Azerbaijan Energy Regulatory Agency board chairman Samir Akhundov, Ofgem acting deputy director, a representative for wholesale market control and international affairs Nathan Macwhinnie and department for international trade country director Azerbaijan of the UK embassy Joel Derbyshire expressed gratitude for mutual cooperation and stressed the importance of such discussions.

Azerbaijan and the UK are cooperating in different spheres of the economy. There are already 30 years of successful cooperation between the two countries in the oil and gas sector, which entered a new stage of development in line with the challenges of the global energy sector. The energy sector accounts for $ 28.8 billion out of $ 30.6 billion of the UK investments in Azerbaijan's economy. The UK is also the biggest investor in Azerbaijan.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and the UK amounted to $667.8 million in 2021, with exports accounting for $396.6 million and imports for $271.1 million. In addition, the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $145.9 million in January 2022.