CHISINAU, April 11High gas tariffs in Moldova have led to a reduction in its consumption by 20% over the year, Vadim Cheban, the head of the Moldovagaz enterprise, said on the air of the Vocea Basarabiei (Voice of Bessarabia) TV channel on Tuesday.
The population of Moldova began the heating season with a natural gas tariff of 29.3 lei (1.5 dollars), compared to the previous season, it increased seven times, then it was 4.57 lei or 23 cents. Experts in Chisinau note that consumers' gas debts have increased by the same amount compared to November last year.
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"Of course, the tariffs are high. Enterprise "Moldovagaz" not interested in this, we already see that compared to last year, consumption has decreased by 20%. This is not beneficial either for the entire system or for transport and distribution activities, because the indicators continue to decline,” Cheban said.
At the same time, he clarified that if there are prerequisites for reducing the domestic natural gas tariff, the company will immediately provide calculations to the national market regulator. According to Cheban, such a possibility exists.
«We have already restored a significant part of the financial deviations in 2022, that is, the consumer paid us through these higher tariffs, these deviations amount to about 6.5 lei (35 cents) in the tariff. If the recovery rate is faster due to the reduction in the purchase price, then there will be prerequisites for lowering the tariff,» Cheban said.
Earlier, the head of «Moldovagaz» stated in the media that in 2022 consumption on the right bank of the Dniester (Moldova excluding Pridnestrovie) amounted to 850 million cubic meters of gas.
Moldova has a state of emergency, declared, among other things, due to the energy crisis amid problems with a shortage of gas and a sharp rise in the price of energy resources. Since December last year, Moldovagaz has been receiving gas from two sources — from the state-owned Energocom and the Russian Gazprom. Russian gas is sent to Transnistria, while the rest of Moldova uses gas from accumulated reserves (more than 200 million cubic meters).
In October 2021, the Moldovan authorities agreed with Gazprom to extend the contract for the supply of gas to the republic, subject to an audit of the Moldovagaz debt in 2022. «Gazprom» reported that it reserves the right to completely stop gas supplies to Moldova due to the violation by «Moldovagaz» of the obligation to pay and the terms for concluding an agreement on the settlement of historical debt.