The leader of the Party “Action and Solidarity” (PAS) Maia Sandu submitted a denouncing statement to the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office whereby she demands to hold criminally accountable employees of the National Agency for Energy Regulation (NAER) over the non-adjustment of natural gas tariffs on time, IPN reports.
According to the denouncing statement, the tariffs approved at the start of 2016 are based on a higher import price of natural gas than the current one. The tariffs for end-users should have been reviewed in 2016, immediately after the import price decreased. The delay in adjusting the tariffs made the people pay unjustifiably almost 1.5 billion lei.
The PAS said that it will stage a flashmob meeting in front of the Agency’s head office on February 6. In the last such event held two weeks ago, members and sympathizers of the PAS demanded that the NAER should immediately reduce the natural gas tariffs.
Earlier, a group of energy experts requested the NAER to stage a public meeting so as to examine the preconditions that appeared and review the natural gas tariff down. According to them, the natural gas tariff should be decreased by 30%. The experts said the delay is political in character and they suspect that the government will decide to adjust the tariff in autumn only, before the parliamentary elections.
In the January 31 meeting of the Cabinet, Prime Minister Pavel Filip said there are preconditions for reducing the tariffs by up to 20% and the NAER is to pronounce on the issue.
