The president of the Association of Energy Consumers of Moldova Nicolae Mogoreanu told a news conference on October 6 that the pensioners' protests are not justified from economic viewpoint, while the current water charges and transport fares do not cover the real costs, Info-Prim Neo reports. The public organization supports the Chisinau Council's decision to raise the charges and fares. Nicolae Mogoreanu said the water and sewerage charges for household consumers should be even higher. The economic entities pay 22.96 lei per cubic meter and this is not normal, he said. In all the countries, there are groups of people who cannot pay the tariffs that are justified from economic point of view. In Moldova's case, the entire population cannot pay the tariffs. The Government's task is to provide the deprived people with subsidies, the association's president said. According to the statistical data of the association, the water charges and fares in public means of transport had been the same during 2000 and 2006, while the salaries increased from 407 lei to 1,697 lei on average. “We want to have free services of a high quality, but this is not possible,” Nicolae Mogoreanu said. He also said that the structure of the price of a kWh of power, a cubic meter of water and a trip by public units of transport is the same for Germany, Russia and Moldova. The prices of the components of the products, energy resources, chemical substances for treating water, gasoline and diesel oil do not differ much from country to country and have no connection with the average size of the pensions and salaries. The Association of Energy Consumers of Moldova was founded in 2002. About 20 companies form part of it.