Energy expert Ion Preaşcă said particular development show the natural gas tariffs should be adjusted. In an interview for Radio Free Europe, the expert, when asked about the rise in the price of gas imported from Russia, said last year this increased by almost one third and the deviation of 5% included in the tariff calculation methodology was exceeded, IPN reports.

According to Ion Preaşcă, the tariff for consumers should be adjusted gradually so as to avoid the situation of 2015, when a sudden rise was needed and this negatively affected the population. As to the fact that Moldovagaz hasn’t yet requested to increase the tariffs for end-users even if the import prices rose, the expert said Moldovagaz is somehow controlled indirectly and depends on particular political factors and this refers not only to Moldovagaz, but also to the National Agency for Energy Regulation.

Ion Preaşcă reminded that the authorities during the last few years intervened abusively and this shows the regulatory authority and even Moldovagaz are dependent politically. The size of tariffs is very well reasoned from economic viewpoint, but there are political implications when including particular costs in tariffs. There were periods when higher costs were included for transit services and these were later removed separately. It happens also that the National Agency for Energy Regulation adopts the decision on the rise in tariffs on Friday and this takes effect on Saturday already, being published in a special edition of the Official Gazette.

According to the expert, the rise in natural gas tariffs is a sensitive issue and this will be anyway exploited politically at the next elections. Therefore, the National Agency for Energy Regulation protects the politicians as a lightning rod. We should not forget that gas consumption decreases after April 1 until October and summer is probably the best period for adjusting tariffs. However, given that the local elections are coming, the tariffs will most probably not be raised until these.