"In the past year, we planned to raise NIS 4 billion. We raised NIS 10 billion. We planned for a certain rise in expenditure on fuels, but they cost us billions more. We must streamline, even though we are an efficient company, and it is necessary to raise the price of electricity," Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22) chairman Yiftach Ron-Tal said at the Eco Energy 2012 Energy Conference today.
Ron-Tal added, "Some of the solutions, bringing the company into the capital market, selling companies in coordination with the workers as part of the reform, and the sale of assets, are partial solutions. The Electricity Economy Law (5756-1996) does not provide an answer to the question of how to calculate the value of IEC's real estate. The company does not own all the assets, some of which are owned by the state. Financial soundness is the heart of the reform."
Ron-Tal said that there were many areas of agreement between IEC and the Ministry of Finance, and he called for exploiting the "fleeting and intensive" window of opportunity which has opened. "During these three months of a transition government, and since there is agreement on more than 90% of the reform, and there is a memorandum of understandings from two years ago, IEC and the Ministry of Finance have dropped some of their crazy demands. There is agreement on most issues. We know what the disagreements are, and everyone realizes that this must be done as fast as possible. The reform can be completed within eight weeks."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 29, 2012
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