Members and sympathizers of the Shor Party protested in front of the building of the National Agency for Energy Regulation, demanding that the natural gas and electricity charges should be decreased, IPN reports.

According to the deputy mayor of the municipality of Orhei Cristina Cojocaru, if the Government purchases natural gas from commodities exchanges, the consumers should pay at most 15 lei per cubic meter of gas in accordance with the current quotations. “But the NAER, which acts by political order, remains deaf to the sufferings and needs of citizens and keeps the charges at exorbitant levels. We demand to reduce the natural gas rates by 50% and the power charges by 1 leu. We no longer want to pay large charges due to the incompetence of the current government,” said Cristina Cojocaru, being quoted in a press release of the party.

The deputy head of Orhei district Marina Kravchenko said that preconditions for decreasing the charges appeared several months ago. “Since January, the quotations on commodities exchanges have declined constantly and are now three times smaller, but we continue paying 30 lei per cubic meter,” stated Marina Kravchenko.

“As they do not have money, the older persons survived this winter at temperatures of 15 degrees Celsius in apartments. When competent persons come to power, the citizens will not pay such rates and will not be impoverished through them,” noted Yuri Kuznetsov, adviser of the parliamentary group of Shor Party.

The protest was staged the day the NAER convened and decided to reduce the regulated prices of electricity. Households in central and southern Moldova powered by Premier Energy will pay an electricity rate of 2.99 lei/kWh, while households powered by Furnizarea Energiei Electrice Nord will pay 3.58 lei/kWh.