NAER called unreasonable a significant increase in prices for compressed natural gas (methane) by Transautogaz and may appeal its actions to the Competition Council.
The National Agency for Energy Regulation in its message noted with concern that since January 22, the country's largest operator of stations for the sale of compressed natural gas for vehicles, TransAutoGaz, has significantly increased the price of methane gas. From information published in the public domain, the company motivated the increase by "an expected increase in the purchase price of natural gas." According to the NAER, at the same time, in a commentary published by the Moldovagaz company, which is the founder of TransAutoGaz, one can state an unsuccessful attempt to argue this decision. In particular, the management of "Moldovagaz" listed a number of factors, some of which, according to NAER, cannot in any way affect the current price structure for compressed natural gas for vehicles, such as justifying the impact on the fuel market by only 3% and the argument about the impact the cost of electricity needed to compress the gas. NAER notes that the statement about the low impact of methane on the motor fuel market, in addition to the fact that it cannot justify a price increase, is also a superficial approach to the socio-economic impact of the compressed natural gas market. The energy regulator emphasizes that the majority of consumers of this type of fuel are represented by taxis or public transport service providers (buses). Therefore, this increase significantly affects both sides of the process, namely service providers and their passengers. NAER emphasized that the argument about the impact of the cost of electricity required for gas compression cannot be accepted either, since regulated electricity prices were last changed by NAER on January 26, 2021 and remain unchanged until now. “Thus, if the increases made by the operators in November 2021 were based on the increase in regulated natural gas prices approved by NAER decision 503/2021, then the argument about the price increase from January 22, 2022 raises many questions. In order to clarify the situation on the compressed natural gas market, the National Agency for Energy Regulation analyzes in detail the circumstances of TransAutoGaz's actions and reserves the right to file a reasoned complaint to the Competition Council to investigate this case through anti-competitive legislation,” NAER said. According to the energy regulator, at present there are 5 operators of automobile gas filling compressor stations (filling stations) in Moldova: Transautogaz with 12 stations; Lukoil-Moldova - 4 stations; Saltica-Lux - 2 stations; Oltavim - 1 station; Rompetrol-Moldova - 1 station. // 24.01.2022 — InfoMarket.
