Electricity charges have been increased again. Households in central and southern Moldova powered by the energy supplier Premier Energy will pay 5.91 lei/kWh, up from the current charge of 4.77 lei/kWh. In the northern regions, households powered by Furnizarea Energiei Electrice Nord will pay 5.60 lei/kWh, up from 4.81 lei/kWh at present. The hikes were approved by the National Agency for Energy Regulation on Wednesday and will take effect when they are published in the Official Gazette. They are slightly lower than the charges requested by the power suppliers, IPN reports.

The Agency argued that the electricity distribution tariffs have been recently raised and the suppliers incurred costs for the June imbalances and have sold smaller amounts of electrical energy.

The updated Premier Energy charges, depending on the location of the node in the grid and on voltage, are as follows:

- 5.24 lei/kWh for electricity supplied to the point of entry into the transmission network;
- 5.38 lei/kWh for electricity supplied to the point of exit from the transmission network;
- 5.41 lei/kWh for end consumers connected to high-voltage lines (35–110 kV);
- 5.55 lei/kWh for end consumers connected to medium-voltage lines (6–10 kV);
- 5.91 lei/kWh for end consumers connected to low-voltage lines (0.4 kV).

For Furnizarea Energiei Electrice Nord, the updated rates are as follows:

- 4.61 lei/kWh for electricity supplied to the point of entry into the transmission network;
- 4.75 lei/kWh for electricity supplied to the point of exit from the transmission network;
- 5.95 lei/kWh for end consumers connected to medium-voltage lines (6-10 kV);
- 5.60 lei/kWh for end consumers connected to the low-voltage grid (0.4 kV).

This is the fifth increase in electricity rates so far this year. The last time the rates were raised at the beginning of November.