Democratic Party worried about higher energy prices

The Democratic Party from Moldova (PDM) shows concern with the fact that the Moldovans will have to pay “exaggerated bills” for natural gas, power and heating during the 2008-2009 winter. It asks the Government to develop urgent measures to diminish the tariff problem, Info-Prim Neo reports. PDM representatives consider “the disastrous situation” in the Moldovan energy sector is becoming a real danger for the national security and may undermine the state's sovereignty. PDM vice president Oazu Nantoi told a news conference on July 9 that the continuous growth of the energy-related charges was taking place not only because of the rise of the import prices, but because of the lack of an efficient system of using alternative energy as modern technologies. “We think it is wrong to blame only the steadily growing energy prices of imported resources, although Moldova pays the highest price in the CIS for the natural gas delivered from Russia,” he said. According to him, up to now Moldova does not have tools measuring the gas shipped into the country, “as the strategic company “Moldova-Gaz” is out of the Government's control.” The fact that there is no transparency as to the huge debts for the gas delivered to the the Transnistrian area (over $1.6 billion) by Russia's “Gazprom”, while the Kuchurgan power plant exports electricity to Romania also in non-transparent conditions, will lead to wasting the Moldovan energy, says the vice president of PDM. In the opinion of another vice president, Igor Klipii, no investor will come to do business in Chisinau's heat-supplying system as long as the tariffs are decided by the Municipal Council (CMC). “The CMC must not establish the charges. This should be done by an entity similar to the Energy Regulator ANRE, which will offer guarantees to a possible investor he can make profit,” Igor Klipii said. A step likely to solve the energy problem is believed by the PDM to be specifying ANRE's status and separating it from the Government. Similar specifications need to be made concerning the distributor Moldova-Gaz, as this company works non-transparently, the PDM leaders claim.