Judicial practice in the field of public procurement of electricity leads to the fact that some suppliers refuse to work with government and utility customers. This was stated by Vitaly Bulat, partner of the law firm Fedotov&partners, during the discussion “Public Procurement of Electricity”, which was broadcast by the Energo Club YouTube channel.
According to him, massive lawsuits by the prosecutor’s office regarding additional agreements for the purchase of electricity create high legal risks for businesses and an atmosphere of unpredictability.
“We already see a lot of legal entities that categorically refuse to participate in public procurement. This is nonsense, this is abnormal,” Bulat said.
He noted that courts often support the claims of the prosecutor's office, without taking into account the specifics of the energy market and the mechanisms for setting the price of electricity.
“For the court, when a prosecutor’s claim comes, I have the impression that for the court this is a presumption of the validity of the prosecutor’s claim,” the lawyer said.
One of the main challenges, Bulat said, is trying to apply tight restrictions to a market where the price of electricity can fluctuate significantly due to shortages, imports and the effects of shelling. The reduction in the number of suppliers in public procurement gradually reduces competition and creates risks for the stable supply of electricity to the public sector, the discussion participants emphasized.
