The Socialist MPs expressed their concern about possible rises of at least 30% in the electricity and heat tariffs as of January 1, 2017. In a news conference, the Socialists said this can happen after the Ministry of Economy signed an arrangement with Gas Natural Fenosa whereby the Ministry recognizes losses of 1.7 billion lei sustained by the power supplier and pledges to cover these at the expense of the tariffs paid by consumers, IPN reports.
“The costs incurred for producing heat rose mainly as a result of the irrational reorganization of the thermoelectric complex of the capital city (merger of the thermoelectric plants CET-1, CET-2 and Termocom). Consequently, these enterprises were taken over by incompetent persons, who consciously destroy the thermoelectric complex of Chisinau. Thus, Termocom is now bankrupt; CET-1 was conserved, while CET-2 works at half of its capacity. This leads to a considerable increase in tariffs for consumers,” said Socialist MP Vlad Batrancea.
The Socialists also noted that the Government undertook to increase the heat and power tariffs when it signed the memorandum with the IMF. Point 32 of this memorandum provides that the tariffs deviations accumulated by the energy companies are to be compensated by including these in the tariff and these deviations are equal to 2.2 billion lei.
The Socialists criticized the nontransparent and unjustified method of forming heat and power tariffs and put forward a number of demands, including to perform a complex international audit of the activity of energy company under the direction of the National Agency for Energy Regulation, for the National Anticorruption Center to inspect these companies and to introduce a moratorium on the review of tariffs until the international audit and inspection are over.
The Ministry of Economy and Gas Natural Fenosa in Moldova signed an arrangement for regularizing the recovery of tariff deviations following the non-adjustment of power tariffs in 2012-2015. The sides agreed that the tariff deviation recovery period will start on January 1, 2017. The deviations, adjusted to the interest rate, now total about 1.75 billion lei and will be recouped during four years, until December 31, 2020, through the power distribution and supply tariffs calculated and adjusted annually to an interest rate of 7.66%.
