The electricity tariffs for end-users were decreased by 11% in nontransparent conditions. The Ministry of Economy’s explanation that the tariff was reduced because the purchase price of electric power fell by 0.5 eurocents leaves room for questions, said experts involved in an economic debate on the tariffs of energy resources staged by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives “Viitorul” and Radio Free Europe, IPN reports.

Moderator Vlad Bercu tried to find answers to some of the questions together with experts Ion Muntean and Ruslan Surugiu. The participants in the debate said it’s not clear how the company “Energocapital”, which is an intermediary and does not produce electricity and does not control costs, could obtain a lower price for the electricity purchased from the Cuchurgan Power Plant.

In the debate, it was noted that when they adjust the electricity and other tariffs for end-users in Moldova, information about the evolution of the prices of energy resources on the regional market and the impact of these evolutions on the domestic energy market are not presented. This information is kept secret for unknown reason, but should be made public. The tariffs must be set based on the trends existing on the world and regional markets and on the impact on the domestic energy market and the government should not interfere in this process.

According to the experts, the tariffs can be reduced by ensuring the real liberalization of the domestic energy market and by identifying a number of suppliers in Ukraine and in Romania. Moldova aimed to implement a number of projects to build interconnections with Romania, but these weren’t carried out. Meanwhile, the price of electricity in Romania decreased following the production of a part of power from renewable sources of energy and the surplus existing in Romania could be bought by Moldova. The price of 1kWh of electricity in Romania is 40 eurocents, as opposed to 69 eurocents at the Cuchurgan Power Plant.