“We think we won’t be dependent on imports this year, but that doesn’t mean companies’ import agreements are no longer in effect,” energy regulator president Niculae Havrilet said Friday.
The gas market was deregulated for companies as of January 1, 2014 and only household consumers still buy gas at regulated prices.
The IMF and the European Commission have asked the Romanian government to raise gas prices for household consumers and thermal power plants supplying heating service to households from RON53.3 to RON62 per MWh as of April. the government proposed a price of RON58, which the international institutions did not accept.
According to the calendar agreed in 2011 with the IMF and EC, gas prices for household consumers should have grown from RON53.3 MW/h in July 2014, to RON54.6 in October 2014, RON56.1 in January 2015, RON58.9 in April 2015 and RON62 in July 2015. The government, however, postponed the price hikes, wishing to extend the deregulation calendar by three years, until end-June 2021.
Havrilet added the energy regulator proposed to the IMF to adjust gas prices once a year, at the end of the cold season, instead of two-three times a year. Another point of discussion is for the price of domestic gas to be set at RON62/MWh as of July and remain unchanged until at least April 2016.