PCRM demands restoring old charges

The parliamentary group of the Communists Party (PCRM) demands canceling the decisions to raise the natural gas, electric power and heat charges. The Communist faction's position was expressed by MPs Eduard Musuc and Oleg Reidman in a news conference on January 28, Info-Prim Neo reports. “The recent rises in charges do not benefit the producers and the ordinary people, but the monopolist intermediaries Termocom and Union Fenosa,” said Eduard Musuc. Musuc also said that the PCRM does not agree with Liberals' assertions that the rises in charges will contribute to duly payments for natural gas and will ensure the country's energy security. “The population will not be able to pay the higher tariffs. Consequently, Moldova Gaz will be unable to pay for the gas supplied by Russia,” he said. “We will be possibly facing a new gas crisis.” The members of the Communist faction say that the payments collected by the water supplier Apa Canal after the water charge was increased by about 80% are three times lower than the projections. They consider that the other service providers will experience a similar situation. By its decision, the National Energy Regulation Agency (ANRE) reduced the revenues of the thermoelectric plants as it decreased the tariffs for the heat produced by them. Oleg Reidman considers that the higher charges will have serious social negative effects on the population as there was implemented no clear mechanism for paying compensations to socially disadvantaged groups. The PCRM says the situation is regrettable because the government is nonprofessional and takes inappropriate decisions. It announced it will propose a set of measures for solving the problems confronting the energy sector and for offsetting the social effects of the higher charges on the consumers.