After the National Agency for Energy Regulation (NAER) approved higher rates last week, the Chisinau City Hall said it will go to court and to the Prosecutor General’s Office and will challenge the retroactive application of the new natural gas and heating rates and will complain about the attack on the regulator’s independence. The issue was discussed in the ordinary meeting of officials of municipal services, IPN reports.

Deputy mayor Fadei Nagacevschi said the retroactive application of the new gas and heating rates is an illegality. There is a precedent confirmed by court in 2019. Besides the preliminary application to court, there will be made an approach to the NAER by which they will demand to suspend the retroactive application of the new tariffs.

The municipal commission for exceptional situations is to come together for a meeting to formulate an approach to the National Commission for Exceptional Situations by which to ask to compensate the costs that will affect the municipal budget following the application of higher tariffs, said the deputy mayor.

The municipality will file a lawsuit against the Government and a complaint about the attack on the National Agency for Energy Regulation’s independence to the Prosecutor General’s Office. The Agency is an independent state body and it should not accept “the illegal instructions of the government”, stated Fadei Nagacevschi.

Mayor of Chisinau Ion Ceban said the NAER’s decision will affect not only the citizens, but also the mayor’s offices. As the deputy chairman of the Congress of Local Authorities of Moldova, he will suggest that the Congress should formulate a position and demand a package of immediate measures in support of all the mayor’s offices.

The rate for the natural gas at points leaving low pressure distribution networks for household users was rasied from 10.19 lei to 14.060 lei per m3 (without VAT). The new rate, of about 15 lei with VAT included, will be applied retroactively, as from January 1, 2022. The Agency also approved higher heating tariffs in Chisinau and Bălți. The consumers served by Termoelectrica will pay for heat 2,169 lei per gigacalorie, up from the current tariff of 1,689 lei/Gcal.