Energy regulatory agency warns of looming energy crisis

The National Agency for Energy Regulation (NAER) warns an energy crisis could hit Moldova in the dead of the winter. The restored heating charge of 233 lei/Gcal has already caused a chain-reaction financial blockage that puts at risk the entire energy system of the country, NAER General Manager Vitalie Iurcu told Info-Prim Neo. Because the heating charge cannot cover the costs of distributing the heat through the centralised system, Iurcu said, Termocom is unable to meet its financial obligations that it has to the heat generators, which, in turn, cannot pay the overdue gas bills to Moldova-Gaz, which leaves the latter unable to honour its contractual obligations to the Russian Concern Gazprom, Moldova’s sole gas supplier. What is at stake here is the country’s energy stability in the middle of the winter. If things continue like this, Gazprom could drastically cut down gas supplies to Moldova, leaving the heat and power plants unable to operate, with all the consequences involved, Iurcu warned. According to him, the charge of 233 lei/Gcal is unfeasible as it doesn’t even cover the expenses of the distributor for purchasing heat. Citing the Energy Law (no.1525-XIII of 19.02.98), the NAER manager said that the local authorities must contribute to providing the population and economy in their jurisdiction with constant supplies of energy and fuel, to regulate allocations from local budgets in order to develop the energy distributing systems, and to grant compensations for energy bills to underprivileged categories of population. As from February 2007, the tariff on heat generated by Chisinau’s two combined heat and power plants is 322.92 lei/Gcal and 241.11 lei/Gcal, respectively.