Even if the purchase price of the gas supplied by Gazprom has declined, the president of Moldovagaz Vadim Ceban said they do not intend to request to reduce the gas rates paid by end users. Moldovagaz accumulated 5 billion lei in financial deviations and these can be covered only through the rate. If the downward international trends persist, they will ask for a gas rate adjustment but only next year, IPN reports.
The president of the Administration Board of Moldovagaz said the current gas rate of 29.26 lei per cubic meter of gas is reasonable and covers the purchase price. The company is this way able to partially repay the accumulated debt.
“The largest part of the financial deviations of 5 billion lei was accumulated this year because the purchase price was even US$1,880. Now the purchase price declined to US$ 821 in November and we expect it will also decrease in December. The difference will not be large. We do not want to maintain the rate at any cost. We need to find a consensus between the supplier’s interests and the consumer’s capacity. We realize that the rate influences the payment capacity of consumers and that their incomes do not rise as the rates do. But the company needs financial resources to pay for the current gas consummation. Next year we will be the first to ask for a gas rate adjustment,” Vadim Ceban stated in the program “Reflection Points” on Vocea Basarabiei station.
As Gazprom partially reduced the amounts of gas supplied to Moldova, Vadim Ceban said that if the gas supplies are yet increased with gas purchased from alternative sources, the consumers will be provided with natural gas until the end of this year. Two days ago, Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spînu announced that Moldova has 142 million cubic meters of gas in state stocks.
“If the strategic supplies are raised to 200 million cubic meters, we will pass December and January without problems, if Termoelectrica works on crude oil. We will not raise the issue of an increase in gas rates as the purchase price is relatively good and the National Agency for Energy Regulation approved a rate that covers the costs. What is important is not to reduce the rate now as we need to ensure the company’s payment capacity in the immediate period. As long as we receive amounts of gas from Gazprom, we need to stick to them given the ongoing war,” said the president of the Administration Board of Moldovagaz.
In November, Gazprom will supply only 5.7 million cubic meters of gas, which is 51% of the amounts stipulated in the contract. According to Andrei Spînu, of the 5.7 million cubic meters of gas, the right side of the Nistru will receive 3.4 million cubic meters of gas a day, while the left side – 2.3 million. This means the Transnistrian region will get by over 40% less gas than in October.
