Investors queue up for Stoen, but concerns remain over new power taxes

Today three potential investors, EDF, RWE and Electrabel are submitting their tenders at the Treasury Ministry for the purchase of a stake in Warsaw-based energy distributor Stoen. Analysts claim that the prices they offer will be lower than the preliminary ones and will include a variety of reservations mainly concerning the excise tax on electricity. "I suppose that the investors will file preliminary offers and the serious ones will appear during further stages of the tender," said a representative from one of the consulting companies. At the beginning of 2002 the government decided to introduce a tax on electricity. As the bill came into force only as late as March 26, this year's revenue from the new tax is forecast at zl. 1.3-1.6 billion, rather than the zl. 2 billion originally planned. The income from the privatizations of the G-8 group and Stoen will be lower than expected. As a result, it may turn out that the introduction of the excise on electricity will do more harm than good to the budget. "The government realizes that the excise has negatively affected the investors' offers," said an analyst from the sector. (Puls Biznesu, p. 6) A.Z.