The gas tariff for domestic consumers in Moldova might reach 15.56 lei per 1 cubic meter including VAT - Vadim Ceban.
Chairman of the board of Moldovagaz announced this during a press conference on Thursday, noting that such a tariff was requested from ANRE, taking into account the increase in the purchase price of gas, and if it is approved by the energy regulator, with application from January 1, 2022, with recalculation, then the company will then be able to pay Gazprom a 50% advance payment for the current consumption on February 20, otherwise the cash deficit will be huge. The head of Moldovagaz noted that the increase in gas tariffs in Moldova is inevitable, given that the purchase price for gas has increased significantly. Moreover, according to him, the average purchase price of gas is projected at $620.1 per 1,000 cubic meters, and it was this forecasted indicator that was included in the new tariff, while the current gas tariff for end consumers included the average gas price in 2022 at the level of $430.15 per 1 thousand cubic meters. Vadim Ceban noted that at the moment, Moldovagaz has to pay $333 million to Gazprom, and out of the current tariff it will have time to accumulate only $218 million, and a cash deficit of 164.7 million lei is forming that cannot be managed. The country will be able to manage this deficit only if the gas tariff increase is applied from January 1, and not from February 1. Otherwise, the cash deficit will be 902.7 million lei and cannot be managed independently. At the moment, we buy natural gas at a price 21% higher than the price set in the tariff. For this reason, we have all absolutely legal grounds to ask ANRE to raise the tariff,” said Vadim Ceban. He recalled that the total amount of negative tariff deviations of Moldovagaz for the period from April 2021 to January 2022 exceeded 2.65 billion lei. This was due to the fact that the purchase price for gas for Moldova all these months exceeded the price included in the tariff. In particular, the total amount of negative tariff deviations of Moldovagaz from April to October amounted to 1 billion 369.2 million lei, and from November 2021 to January 2022 - 1 billion 281.4 million lei. And in general, the total amount of deviations is 2 billion 650.6 million lei. At the same time, Moldovagaz made efforts and covered the tariff deviations from April to September and did not demand an increase in the domestic tariff at that time. Vadim Ceban noted that in the structure of the current gas tariff for household consumers, gas purchase price has a share of 82.41%, while the average purchase price included in the tariff is $430.15 per 1 thousand cubic meters, and in the structure of the ANRE-proposed new tariff - 84.71%, with the projected average purchase price of $620.1 per 1 thousand cubic meters. // 27.01.2022 — InfoMarket
