The Government will make sure that the residential users are able to purchase firewood at the same price as last year. The selling price of hardwood this year will vary between 550 and 875 lei per stere, while of softwood – between 350 and 475 lei per stere. The announcement was made by the Government’s secretary general Dumitru Udrea in a news conference, IPN reports.

“The coming winter will be hard. The Republic of Moldova is powerfully affected by the war waged by Russia against Ukraine, the energy crisis and the unpredictable behavior of Gazprom. As the whole Europe, it is vulnerable in terms of the supply with energy resources. In this connection, the Government is preparing a number of measures to support household users during the cold period of the year, depending on the used energy resources and the vulnerability degree,” stated Dumitru Udrea.

The authorities’ plan is aimed at ensuring equitable and responsible consumption. The 658,000 households that use traditional wood burning stoves as the main source for heating the home will have access to firewood. For the price of firewood not to rise, the Government offered over 64 million lei in subsidies to the State Forestry Agency “Moldsilva”. “The forestry companies will sell wood only to households and public institutions, especially educational ones. Business entities will be unable to buy firewood for selling this from “Moldsilva”. At the initial stage, planned for October and November 2022, each household that forms part of a socially deprived group or that uses only wood for heating will be able to purchase up to 3 steres in installments,” stated the secretary general.

At the second stage, in December 2022 – January 2023, “Moldsilva” will release wood depending on the weather conditions and the available stores. The wood to households will be transported only during the day based on fiscal invoices. In the immediate period, the penalties for illegal tree felling will be made harsher.

Annually, the consumers use about 1 million steres of wood in the cold period. This year, “Moldsilva” Agency will provide about 800,000 steres of the necessary volume.