Ceban: Given the Deviations, the Gas Tariff Must Be Over 33 Lei

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Moldovagaz is consulting with ANRE to make amendments and additions to the Regulation on gas supply, as well as principles of pricing based on the amendments proposed by the regulator to the methodology of calculation of gas tariff. This was stated by the Chairman of Moldovagaz, Vadim Ceban, reports mold-street.com “The decision on the change of tariff methodology should be taken on September 15, and only after this date we will have the possibility to address the regulator with the entry into force of the new law on natural gas,” declared Vadim Ceban. According to the head of Moldovagaz, only after this date, the company will be able to submit a new request for adjustment of gas prices to ANRE, and the relevant issue will be considered at one of the next meetings of the Moldovagaz Board of Directors. “I do not see how these new tariffs could be approved before October 1. Because from October 1 the formula will also change,” said Vadim Ceban. In a message in his Telegram-channel, Ceban reminded that since October 1, in accordance with the terms of the contract between Moldovagaz and Gazprom, the formula of calculating the price of gas imported from Gazprom will change: 70% of the price will be formed depending on the cost of oil products (diesel fuel and fuel oil) and 30% based on stock exchange quotations. Between April and September, the formula is 30% of the price based on the cost of oil products (diesel and fuel oil) and 70% based on exchange quotations (FTT spot). Thus, it is assumed that the import price may be lower than the current one, which reached 1883 dollars per thousand cubic meters in September. However, given the exorbitant purchase price, the current tariff leads to an accumulation of debts worth billions of lei, says the head of Moldovagaz. “Based on the existing purchase prices, plus refundable deviations, we will ask for a tariff of 29 lei. We should be able to pay, first of all, for natural gas, and at the same time, this should not be a big shock for population, for consumers, for industry, for there is a risk of the other extreme, when the citizens’ solvency decrease. We have to restore the deviations that we accumulated this year and last year. By the end of this year, we will have accumulated tariff deviations of 3.3 billion lei. We have 1.7 billion lei from last year and 1.6 billion lei from this year. If we add these deviations, the tariff should be over 33 lei per cubic meter. We do not want such a drastic increase, but, on the other hand, we have to honor our commitments,” Vadim Ceban explained. Recall that ANRE has corrected the regulated price of methane at the beginning of August. Thus, Moldovan citizens now pay about 23 lei per cubic meter of gas, including VAT, compared to the previous tariff of 18.62 lei.