“I think the price increases in a number of sectors of the national economy are a serious problem even if we go through a period of crisis, as the world economy. The unjustified price rises increase the heavy burden put on the Moldovan people,” First Deputy Head of Parliament Vlad Plahotniuc said, when asked by the press to comment on his initiative to check how the prices are set in a number of fields, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting www.kp.md. “I already said that I went into politics because I’m aware of the difficult social and economic situation of our country. I reiterate that I will be making effort and will use my experience in business to improve the situation,” Vlad Plahotniuc said. “As I’m indignant at the practice of the water supplier Apa-Canal Chisinau to levy taxes for the overdue volume of water from the persons who have other types of water meters than those installed by it, I asked the National Agency for Competition Protection to check the legality of such acts,” Vlad Plahotniuc stated. According to him, this is only the beginning. “I’m sure that we still have many internal reserves allowing us to improve the living standards in Moldova and we will continue to take steps in this respect.” On February 1, the National Agency for Competition Protection announced that it finished checking how the prices of public utilities (electricity, water, gas and heat supply), transportation services (railway and road), electronic communications services (roaming, fixed-line and mobile telephone), and socially-important food products (bread, sugar, milk and others) are set. It identified a number of violations committed by SA Apa-Canal Chisinau, including forcing the consumers to cover the costs of installing meters themselves and including of the technical losses in the bills.