“The question is, however, what can be done for the small natural gas consumers because, at some point, regulated prices might be higher than prices on the free market,” Nita told a press conference.
He added that the evolution of regulated natural gas prices is envisaged for a period of four to five years.
End-May, Energy Minister Razvan Nicolescu said there is no need for any other increase in natural gas prices in Romania because tariffs have already been aligned to those set by the countries in the region.
“There is no need for an additional increase in natural gas prices because current tariffs in Romania are already in line with those set by the countries in the region. The idea of aligning prices is to obtain convergent, not high prices, and convergence has been reached,” the minister explained at that time.
Romanian energy regulator ANRE recently said natural gas tariffs for household consumers will increase by 2% as of July 1 and by 3% as of October 1, 2014. However, ANRE head Niculae Havrilet said the increases could be lower if gas imports decline.
Under a deregulation scheme agreed with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, Romania has pledged to deregulate gas and electricity prices and align them to European levels by 2018.
The gas bill for corporate consumers will not be increased this year, as the tariffs in the sector are already aligned to those of the other countries in the region, according to the Energy Department.