At present, the revision of natural gas tariffs for end consumers in Moldova is impossible for a number of reasons - Moldovagaz.
This was stated by the chairman of the board of the company Vadim Ceban. He wrote in his telegram channel that natural gas tariffs for end consumers do not depend on the willingness/unwillingness of the supplier company. “All tariff calculations are made by Moldovagaz JSC in strict accordance with the requirements of the special methodology of the national energy regulator. Currently, due to the tariff deviations accumulated over the past year, the instability of the energy market, as well as a possible adjustment in the coming months of distribution tariffs (these tariffs have not been adjusted since 2018), an appeal to NAER to revise the tariff for the supply of natural gas for final consumers is not possible,” said Vadim Ceban. The official press release of the company "Moldovagaz" states that, according to the requirements of the methodology, if there are objective factors that necessitate an increase / decrease in the regulated income by more than 1%, the supplier or NAER will initiate the procedure for revising regulated prices. The Moldovagaz company stated that it had analyzed the possibility of revising the current regulated prices for the supply of natural gas and stated that in the current prices for the supply of natural gas, the average purchase price is $926.94 per 1 thousand cubic meters, while the actual purchase price for Q1 2023 was $1,093.2 per 1,000 cubic meters, which led to the accumulation of negative tariff deviations in the amount of 669.4 million lei. In addition, as noted, at the end of 2022, the negative tariff deviations of the natural gas supplier from the cost of purchasing natural gas and supplying natural gas to consumers exceeded 2.5 billion lei. “Thus, despite the fact that part of the negative tariff deviations accumulated by Moldovagaz JSC in previous periods of regulation was compensated due to the inclusion of the current regulated prices, tariff deviations in the structure, there remains a significant part of the accumulated deviations subject to compensation through regulated prices for the supply of natural gas," Moldovagaz said. As noted, in addition, in order to determine regulated prices for the supply of natural gas, it is necessary to establish the following components: the average annual purchase price for natural gas, which cannot currently be determined due to the volatility of prices on the TTF exchange platform, which change significantly daily, as well as the cost services for the distribution and transportation of natural gas for 2023. It is emphasized that at present, the operators of the natural gas distribution system are actively cooperating with NAER to determine and establish the calculation base for fixed assets and intangible assets for subsequent use in regulated differentiated tariffs for the natural gas distribution service, which, in accordance with the provisions of the methodology, must be determined and approved by the agency depending on the level of pressure in the distribution networks, for each operator separately (36 differentiated tariffs). As noted, the current tariffs for the distribution of natural gas have not been revised since 2018, which led to a significant accumulation of negative tariff deviations in previous periods of regulation of the distribution of natural gas, which, in accordance with the provisions of the methodology, should be included in the regulated prices for services for distribution of natural gas for their full reimbursement. At the same time, in accordance with the Law on Natural Gas, it is necessary to review and change the methodology, which will lead to a revision of the regulated tariffs for natural gas transportation services. “Based on the foregoing, JSC Moldovagaz, only after determining all of the indicated components, will be able to consider and, in the presence of objective factors that necessitate a revision of the regulated income of the natural gas supplier, will submit to the agency a draft regulated prices for the supply of natural gas,” it says in the message of "Moldovagaz".// 26.04.2023 — InfoMarket.
