ANRE to convene on Wednesday

The national energy regulator ANRE will come together for a meeting on Wednesday, January 26 to consider adjusting the natural gas charges, the head of the agency's press office Anatol Barbei has told Info-Prim Neo. In the January 21 meeting, the ANRE's Administration Board and Moldovagaz could not reach a compromise as regards the methodology used to calculate the charges. The gas supplier demands that the charges be increased by 18.2%. At the same time, according to ANRE calculations, the rise should be at most 10.8%. On January 24, Moldovagaz issued a communique, saying it does not agree with the method used by the ANRE. According to the public gas utility, the national energy regulator violated a number of technical and procedural norms when it approved a new calculation methodology. Moldovagaz demands that the ANRE suspends its application until a multilateral and independent examination is carried out and that a commission of experts is set up to assess the theoretical basis and the applicability of the new methodology in Moldova.