Moldovan parliament abrogates law causing increase in natural gas tariff
17:07 | 20.11.2015 Category: Economic
Chisinau, 20 November /MOLDPRES/-The parliament today voted unanimously a draft amendment to the law on natural gas, thus amending an amendment to the respective law, which entered into force in 2014 and led to a substantial increase in the gas transportation tariff.
“The National Agency for Energy Regulation (ANRE) will have to revise its recent decision on gas tariffs within 15 days,” the head of the parliamentary commission for economy, budget and finance, MP Stefan Creanga. He added that the new amendments will lower tariffs.
After the approval of the new gas tariffs on 13 November, ANRE head, Sergiu Ciobanu said tariffs would be revised after the parliament approved the draft law on natural gas.
The tariff will no more include a tax for the transit of natural gas on Moldova’s territory, and thus, consumers will pay less. According to more experts, tariffs for household consumers could be reduced by five per cent.
The draft law voted in two readings today abrogates the words “and transit international transportation costs of natural gas” related to the notion of “natural gas transportation” in the Article 4 of the law. Past year’s decision to include the cost of the transit international transportation services in the natural gas tariffs lead to a 16-fold increase in the transportation regulated tariff.
The amendment voted today is meant to align the law on natural gas to European norms and to the European Union's Third Energy Package.
The ANRE administration board decided to increase natural gas tariffs for end consumers by 9.8 per cent on 13 November, 5.6 percentage points below the level approved on 18 July 2015.
The new tariff for household consumers with a monthly consumption of up to 30 cubic meters reaches 6,556 lei. Consumers will have to pay 6,830 lei if their consumption exceeds 30 cubic meters. An eight-per-cent value-added tax will be included for gas delivery-services, therefore, 525 and 546 lei, respectively, will be added to the final prices.
According to the Economics Ministry, Moldovagaz is currently paying Gazprom 210.21 dollars per 1000 cubic meters against the price of 400.47 dollars paid in October 2011.
(Reporter V. Bercu, Editor A. Raileanu)
