A rise in the price of electric power is inevitable, but the new price asked by the suppliers is exaggerated, Minister of Economy Valeriu Lazar said in the program “Replica” on Prime TV. He stated that on April 1 Ukraine stopped supplying electricity to Moldova, but the Cuchurgan Power Plant is for the time being able to meet all the power necessities, Info-Prim Neo reports. “The negotiations go on. We consider that we still have maneuvering space for preventing a significant price rise, but a rise is yet inevitable. Ukraine asked for a rise of 23%, while the Cuchurgan Power Plant of about 20%. This means a price of 7.5 cents per kilowatt-hour in the first case and of 7.3 cents per kilowatt-hour in the second case,” said Valeriu Lazar. According to him, the suppliers made concessions during the negotiations. At the end of last week, they agreed a price of 7.0 cents per kilowatt-hour with the Cuchurgan Power Plant and of 7.2 cents per kilowatt-hour with the Ukrainian suppliers. “Our task is to obtain the lowest price possible. The dialogue is held at three levels – technical, permanent between ministries and political about which I do not know details,” stated the minister. He also said that if the consumers are unable to pay the final tariff agreed, there will appear problems, including thefts, exaggerated economies and nonpayment of bills. Last year, Moldova paid 6.1 cents per kilowatt-hour of electrical energy. The contracts for the import of power signed with Ukraine and the Cuchurgan Power Plant expired on April 1.