
If ANRE reduces the gas tariff for household consumers of Moldova from December 1 from 11.08 lei to 8.81 lei per 1 cubic meter, then in January it can grow to 13 lei - Andrei Spinu.
As the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development explained, from the information provided by Moldovagaz to ANRE, it follows that the average gas tariff of about 11 lei per 1 cubic meter including VAT was calculated for 14 months and covers the period of November-December 2021 and the whole of 2022, based on estimates of the gas price that will be next year. At the same time, it follows from ANRE materials that when developing the final gas tariff, which may decrease from December 1 by 20.5% - from 11.08 lei to 8.81 lei per 1 cubic meter, the energy regulator took into account the average gas price only in 2021. “If ANRE makes a decision based on the methodology only for 2021, with some deviations, then it can approve the tariff at about 9 lei per 1 cubic meter. But if we follow this formula and do not take 14 months, then it is possible that in January there will be an additional increase in the tariff already up to 13 lei,” said Andrei Spinu. According to him, the government is ready for any scenario, and in any case will pay compensation to end consumers, but the Cabinet considers it more preferable to have a stable, predictable tariff for a whole year, so that there is no pressure on people and business with a possible increase in the cost of gas during the year. “The government considered the compensation at the rate of 11 lei. The Cabinet of Ministers will provide support to citizens in any case. The parliament has already adopted in the first reading a draft law on compensation of expenses for gas and heat energy consumption in the cold season, and regardless of the final decision of ANRE, the authorities will allocate compensation to citizens to cover a certain proportion of the tariff growth,” said the Deputy Prime Minister. At the same time, he stressed that the authorities understand that the tariff of 11 lei is high, but if the contract with Gazprom had not been signed and all gas was bought exclusively at the market price, then the gas tariff could have amounted to 23 lei per 1 cubic meter. “We understand that we are going through a difficult period and it will be difficult for many to pay for gas at higher tariffs, and therefore we did everything to get gas at a good price and provided a package of compensations to make it easier for citizens to make payments. We analyzed all invoices, all information on gas consumption by different categories and provided compensation for the most numerous categories of consumers who consume less than 50 cubic meters of gas per month - there are more than 500 thousand of such people and those who spend up to 150 cubic meters - over 100 thousand. Another 90 thousand consumers use more than 150 cubic meters of gas, and no compensation has been provided for them,” said Andrei Spinu. // 24.11.2021 - InfoMarket.