BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Estonian Starman starts selling electricity

Estonian home communication solutions company Starman expanded its product portfolio as of Monday and started selling electric energy, LETA/Postimees Online reports.

The company said that it aims to become the second biggest electricity seller in Estonia in regard to number of customers. Starman has said earlier that it intends to start selling electricity to small and home consumers and does not intend to start selling electric energy to corporate clients.

Since Starman is a telecommunications company, it intends to start selling electric energy via its existing sales channels – centres in Tallinn, Jõhvi and Tartu, the call centre and self-service environment. Contracts will be concluded via e–mail and ordinary mail.

Starman's telecommunications services reach more than 560,000 homes in Estonia.

Estonian company could bring billions to Utah, but environmentalists fear catastrophe

In the faraway nation of Estonia, they're plotting big things for Utah's future. An Estonian government-owned company wants to build a massive oil-shale operation in Uintah County. It promises thousands of jobs, and with it lots of controversy.

Representatives from Enefit said the Estonian company's track record shows it's learned how to conduct business without damaging the environment. But environmental activists have vowed to stop Enefit from moving into Utah no matter what it takes.

Many Estonians acknowledge that their oil-shale industry has had a troubled past, but they insist their tiny Baltic nation has made significant improvements to the way it mines and processes the oil shale. A few decades ago, the industry was an environmental disaster, according to many Estonians.

"Definitely, in northeastern Estonia, we have higher rates of getting sick on the respiratory disease," said Valdur Lahtvee of the Stockholm Environment Institute.

There are still vast piles of waste in Estonia, and dozens of square miles remain torn up by strip-mining. There used to be severe air pollution and water quality problems. These environmental issues are the lasting legacy of a devastating stretch of history for Estonia, which was repeatedly abused by its much larger neighbors. The Soviets invaded, then the Nazis, then the Soviets again, with each set of tyrants outdoing the last in brutality. Once the Soviets consolidated power and ruled Estonia like a colony, they built giant oil-shale power plants that were not kind to the environment.

Electricity prices grew by 8.6% in Estonia in August

Electricity prices in Estonia increased by 8.6% in August 2013, comparing to previous month, and reaching 43.66 euros per MWh, the Estonian energy company Eesti Energia said in a statement. In Finland, price increased by 17.4%, averaging at 43.47 euros per MWh, writes LETA.

The average price of Latvian and Lithuania bidding area increased by 4.4% to 51.31 euros per MWh.

The Nordic hydro reservoir levels remaining below the long-term median. Situation in Middle East influencing the crude oil price.

Carbon permits price increasing during fourth consecutive months. German 2014 base energy contract month closing price was 36.8 euros per MWh. Coal price continuously decreasing, price closed at 82.8 dollars per tonne.

Elisa says it now offers 4G services across entirety of Tallinn

Estonian mobile network operator Elisa has announced that its 4G LTE network now covers 100% of the capital Tallinn. The development comes just over a month after the cellco launched 4G services using 800MHz spectrum, having been granted such frequencies by the Estonian Technical Surveillance Authority (ETSA) in early August 2013; previously it had offered LTE using only the 1800MHz and 2600MHz frequencies.

The operator has highlighted the benefits of its lower-band spectrum when it comes to coverage enhancements, particularly for reaching customers indoors.

As previously reported by CommsUpdate, in rolling out 4G services using the 800MHz band last month Elisa claimed that it could provide superfast mobile broadband to 95% of the country’s territory via the combination of its 800MHz infrastructure and its existing 4G networks operating over the 1800MHz and 2600MHz bands.

Meanwhile, having deployed 240 new base stations for its 800MHz 4G network at launch, the operator noted that it had more 820 4G base stations in operation, including those deployed for its existing infrastructure.

IRL and Center party make gains in polls 1 month before elections

The Center Party and IRL, two parties locked in a fierce campaign battle in Tallinn, have increased their ratings at the parliamentary level, a fresh Emor survey has found.

The ERR-commissioned survey is one of two that Emor has been conducting each month in the run-up to the October 20 local elections.

If elections for the nation's Parliament were to be held today, the Center Party would claim 29 percent of the votes, up three percentage points compared with a month ago.

IRL has increased its popularity by four percentage points, to 18, while its coalition partner, the Reform Party, has the backing of 21 percent of the voters, up from 20 percent in August.

The only major party in opposition in both the Parliament and in Tallinn, the Social Democrats, has lost two percentage points, falling to 23 percent.

The Green Party's support level fell from 5 to 4 percent, putting it below the threshold needed for representation in Parliament, while support for the Conservative People's Party also dropped, falling from 4 to 3 percent.

The second poll, focusing on popularity in local elections, should be published over the weekend.

Tallinn hopes to earn millions euros from increase of population in 2014

The population figure of Estonia's capital Tallinn is likely to be by 10,000 people higher by the end of the year 2013 than it was at the beginning of the year and the income tax they will start paying to the city's budget should increase the city's revenues by several million euros, LETA/Public Broadcasting reports.

Tallinn's finance manager Katrin Kendra said that in 2012, 574 euros of income tax was collected by Tallinn per one resident, registered at the population registry. Considering that the average declared income for 2013 is expected to grow by 6.7% and in 2014, 6%, in 2014, the income tax per resident should be 648 euros.

Thus, when 10,000 resident are added, the income tax collection in Tallinn should increase by 6.48 mln euros next year.

Kendra said that the link isn’t that direct though since more people register as residents of Tallinn who have lower than average income and who hope to get some benefits from Tallinn, like kindergarten or school service or social support. "There are a lot of people who according to the Population Registry live in Tallinn but work and pay taxes in Finland or elsewhere abroad," she added.

"Thus we forecast, in a conservative way, an additional income tax from added residents in the total of 4 mln euros in 2014," said Kendra. In the middle of September, 428,509 people had registered Tallinn as their place of residence. Since the start of the year, that means an increase of 8,679.

Baltic Connecting to bring 100 tour operators from across Europe to Estonia

The Estonian Tourist Board at Enterprise Estonia is organizing on September 17-20, 2013, the largest contact event in the Baltics, Baltic Connecting, bringing 100 tour operators from across Europe to Estonia. They shall be met by 62 sellers of tourism products from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, informs LETA.

"Although Baltic Connecting is being organized for the fifth time already, this is the first time that we have the honor to welcome guests of this major event to Estonia," said Martin Hirvoja, Member of the Management Board of Enterprise Estonia. "The tourism sector is doing well right now – the number of tourists visiting Estonia has grown for the fourth year in a row. We have achieved this largely thanks to good tour operators in Estonia and abroad who have helped tourists reach Estonia. Events like Baltic Connecting help Estonia-Latvia-Lithuania to make their way together onto the product lists of European as well as Ukrainian and Russian tour operators," added Hirvoja.

Tour operators who are already selling Baltic tourism products and those who plan to start selling in the Baltics have been invited to the event. Sixty-two tourism professionals from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have come to the contact meeting at Swissotel to sell their products. Hotels, restaurants, sights, and tourism objects are represented.

A two-day study trip shall follow the contact day, either in Latvia, Lithuania, or Estonia, depending on the guest's wishes. In Estonia there are two programs to choose from: Tallinn-Lahemaa or Tallinn-Saaremaa.

The Estonian Tourist Board is organizing Baltic Connecting in cooperation with the Latvian Tourism Development Agency and the Lithuanian State Department of Tourism, with support for the event from the Cohesion Fund.

Average pension in Estonia will be income tax free in 2014 too

The Estonian government discussed at their Tuesday cabinet meeting the possibilities of raising the income tax free minimum, especially for pensioners, so that the average pension would remain income tax free in 2014, LETA/Public Broadcasting reports.

According to initial calculations, the additional tax free rate for pensioners would increase by 18 euros a month, which would raise the income tax free income rate to 354 euros a month. The government has earlier confirmed that pensions will increase by 5.8% from 336 to 354 euros next year. Thus the average pension will remain income tax free next year.

The structurally adjusted budget position of the government sector for the next year will have a 0.7% of forecast GDP surplus while nominally it will still have a deficit of 0.4% of GDP.

The state budget expenditure will next year grow by over 400 mln euros or around 5%. The government continues discussing next year's state budget at it Thursday cabinet meeting and plans to hand over the draft state budget to the parliament on September 26.

Estonia will get more star-rated hotels

11 Estonian accommodation establishments have joined the common European grading system Hotelstars Union that was created three years ago and the Estonian Hotels and Restaurants' Union (EHRU) hopes to double that number by the end of the year and thus, increase the level of the whole sector, LETA/Postimees Online reports.

The union's CEO Raigo Triik said that the point of the Hotelstars system is to make it easier to compare accommodation establishments and make one's choice.

Triik said that the system has started out well in Estonia. "We have this year issued already six gratings and work on seven more is starting. By the end of the year, there should be 20 accommodation establishments with Hotelstars grades in Estonia," he said. "In winter we forecast that by the end of the year, there could be ten hotels evaluated according to the Hotelstars system, now we dare to expect for two times more."

This year, five starts have been issued according to the Hotelstars system to Pädaste Manor and Hotel Telegraaf. Earlier, Hotel Schlössle has received five stars. Savoy Boutique Hotel is also applying for 5 stars.

Court bars IRL from using mayor's name in attack website addresses

Ruling on a civil suit on Tuesday, Harju County Court banned the political party IRL from registering or using websites with domains similar to the name of Tallinn Mayor Edgar Savisaar.

The order comes shortly after an initial website, www.edgarsavisaar.ee, was shut down, but was replaced with another, www.edgarsavisaar.co, displaying political attack ads.

IRL was banned from using the words "edgarsavisaar," "savisaaredgar," "esavisaar" and other words related to "savisaar." However, other words which my draw a connection to the mayor but which were not specifically forbidden may still be used. The party can face penalties if it defies the ban.

With the October 20 elections drawing nearer, political mudslinging is heating up.

Last week, a remote-controlled drone carrying an IRL election campaign poster hovered in front of cameras during a live TV appearance by Savisaar. A few days before that, city authorities removed IRL-funded, anti-Savisaar political ads that had appeared in front of the Tallinn City Government building hours earlier. The posters read: "Savisaar's corruption takes 1,000 euros from your family each year. Let's bring that to an end."

Copterline won't restart flights between Tallinn and Helsinki soon

The helicopter operator Copterline doesn’t plan to return to the Tallinn-Helsinki route any time soon since the company earns much more servicing oil rigs in the North Sea, LETA/Postimees writes.

Copterline has operated the Tallinn-Helsinki flights on three periods: in 2000–2005, in 2008 and for nine months starting September 2011. The flights were first severed after an accident with one of his helicopters that fell into the sea near Tallinn and killed all 14 people on board in August 2005. The company then made two attempts to service the route again and has promised to return to the route repeatedly ever since.

The company's CEO Kari Ljunberg admits now that there is still demand for their work in the North Sea, and thus they intend to continue the work there for a while. Ljunberg said that in the first seven months of this year, Copterline has earned in the North Sea 2.2 mln euros. He said that flying between Tallinn and Helsinki is profitable but stressed that the Estonian and Finnish economies are not in the best state now. Ljunberg said that they intend to return to the Tallinn-Helsinki route in the future but didn’t reveal any dates.

40 mln euros to be invested in Ülemiste trade center in Tallinn

Tallinn's trade center Ulemiste Keskus has signed an agreement with a company Fund Ehitus on enlargement of the mall, erection of the three-storey parking lot, and reconstruction of the interior design, Estonian national broadcasting corporation ERR reported, LETA cites.

Whole costs of the mentioned works total approximately 40 million euros, representatives of the trade center reported.

The second stage of the construction works includes building of a new part of the center with a floor area – 32,000 square meters, a new central entrance and a three-storey parking lot.

The works are deemed to be concluded in the autumn 2014, when the floor area of the shop will be enlarged up to 92,000 square meters. Renovation of the existing trade areas will be launched in the beginning of 2014.

What connects Edgar Savisaar with Tõnis Sõõrumaa?

Opposition had a field day last week when it was found out that Mayor of Tallinn Edgar Savisaar had recorded as his official place of residence in Tallinn an apartment that belongs to Tõnis Sõõrumaa, son of Urmas Sõõrumaa, writes Äripäev.

In his explanation, Savisaar said that he is renting the apartment from Tõnis Sõõrumaa because it is close to the city’s financial services department that is headed by Katrin Kendra. “It will make it easier for me to cooperate with and carry out supervision over them,” Savisaar said in a statement.

This is true because the financial service of Tallinn city government has been renting almost 1,000 sqm of office space in the same building since 2009 and has signed a rent contract with Rotermann City, a company owned by Sõõrumaa since 2009.

At the start of 2013, Tallinn city government rented another 310 sqm of floor space in the building and extended the rent contract made in 2009 by three years.

Pedestrian falls into utility well in Tallinn's old town

Over last weekend, a pedestrian fell into a manhole on Pikk street in Tallinn's Old Town.The individual, reportedly a professional movie stunt worker, was not seriously injured, according to ETV.

Telecom company Elion, which uses the manhole for cables, said it inspected the site after the accident and found that the cover had been turned upside down, making it a threat to passersby.

Wells for utility networks, water wells, underground tanks, and other similar structures have been a danger all over Estonia, mostly in the countryside.

There is a national hotline for reporting hazardous manholes, 1524, and even an app for mapping them. Last year alone, the tipline received hundreds of reports. Most accidents occur in less developed areas where well coverings are not properly marked or maintained.

An awareness campaign was launched last year amid a spate of tragic injuries and deaths. In one accident last year, an elderly woman and her dog were found dead in an old well. The wooden cover, covered by brush, had apparently failed to support their weight. In another case, in 2011, a 22-year-old woman walking by the Pärnu river fell to her death in an uncovered manhole. Prosecutors ended their investigation without anyone being held liable.

Estonia registers EU's steepest increase in labor costs in Q2

Average hourly labor costs in Latvia increased 4.3% in the second quarter of 2013, compared to the respective period in 2012 – the fourth steepest increase across the European Union, according to the latest data from the EU's statistical office Eurostat. The steepest increases in average hourly labor costs in the second quarter of 2013 were recorded in Estonia – 7.7%, Lithuania – 6.5%, and Romania – 6%, writes LETA.

Reductions in average hourly labor costs were registered only in Slovenia – 5.9%, Cyprus – 4.6%, Croatia – 0.6%, and Spain – 0.3%.

Overall, average hourly labor costs increased 0.9% in the EU and the eurozone in the second quarter of 2013.

In the EU, average hourly labor costs increased 1.7% in industry, 0.4% in construction and 0.9% in services.

In Latvia, average hourly labor costs grew 5% in industry, 8.5% in construction and 3.5% in services.

Estonia's employment one of the fastest growing in EU

In the second quarter, the number of employed persons in Estonia was up 3% in Estonia year on year, reported Eurostat.

The fastest employment growth was recorded in Malta at 3.6%. Latvian employment was up 1.5% in a year and Lithuania posted 1% growth. Employment declined fastest in Cyprus (6.1%), Greece (4.3%) and Portugal (4%).

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, employment fell 1% in the euro area and 0.4% in the EU in the second quarter of 2013.

Toomas Hõbemägi

Estonia needs Russian-language secondary schools, says minister

Education Minister Jaak Aaviksoo said that despite a requirement that all upper secondary schools must teaches predominantly in Estonian, the nation has room for a few completely Russian-language schools.

In an interview with the Russian-language publication Den za Dnjom, Aaviksoo said that Estonia needs an upper secondary school where the Russian language, literature and culture are taught partially or completely in Russian, in a similar way that one school in Tallinn is teaching German.

The minister said that any such school could based on an agreement between Estonia and Russia.

Real estate union: retail space increase in Tallinn results in a price war

The new shopping centres planned for the next few years will add more than 100,000 square metres of retail space in Estonia's capital Tallinn and Estonian Real Estate Companies Union CEO Tõnis Rüütel estimates that this will result in a market war that has to be paid for by the consumer, LETA/Public Broadcasting reports.

There is already nearly 2 square metres of retail space per resident in Tallinn and new centres are being built. For example in a few years time, the Panorama City shopping centre with over 50,000 square metres of rental space is being erected in Lasnamäe and the Peterburi Rd shopping centre should be completed and Ülemiste Centre is also expanding considerably.

Marcel Kokkeel, CEO of the current retail space leader in Tallinn, Citycon, the owner company of the Rocca al Mare and Kristiine shopping centres, says that there will be enough clients for the new centres but developers of projects should think their plans through well.

"If I was an investor planning to open a new shopping centre, I would think hard about this step," said Kokkeel.

Minimum wage in Estonia to increase by almost a quarter over 2 years

Estonian employers and trade unions have reached an agreement that the minimum wage, which is currently at 320 euros a month, will be increased by 35 euros a month both in 2014 and 2015, LETA/Public Broadcasting reports.

The employers organisations and trade unions will sign the corresponding agreement on Thursday.

Unusually, the agreement will this time be signed for two years, during which the incomes of the most vulnerable part of the labour market should increase by almost a quarter, from 320 euros this year to 355 euros next year and 390 euros in 2015.

The government has to approve of the agreement for it to come in force.

Supermarket chain Maxima to build a new traffic junction in Tallinn

Lithuanian-owned Maxima chain of grocery stores will rebuild a traffic junction in Haabersti in Tallinn as part of its plan to build a new store in the area, writes Eesti Päevaleht.

The new Maxima store will be XXX, Maxima’s largest in Tallinn, that will have 7,000 sqm of floor space. The project includes rebuilding a 600-metre street between the Autospirit car dealership and Õismäe tee.

The total project will cost Maxima about EUR 9m.

Since part of the road will be located on the territory of the would-be Maxima store, the supermarket group has agred to finance the design and road construction that is on its property.

The city does not yet know the full cost of the rebuilding of junction, but a design made in 2010 estimated that it could amount to EUR 7.6m. Since construction prices in 2010 were notably lower than today, the actual cost is likely to be much higher.

Toomas Hõbemägi