New timetable of gas price liberalization

Newsroom 10/06/2015 | 10:09

Romanian Government and the European Commission (EC) agreed recently on a new liberalization graphic for the gas price paid by the population for the period July 1, 2015– July 1, 2018.

Price increases will be made annually, not quarterly. According to the Memorandum of Understanding between the Romanian Government and Monetary International Fund (IMF) that contains the new liberalization schedule of prices for domestic natural gas for households, gas price will increase from RON 53/MWh to RON 60/MWh starting July 2015. Also the price will go up to RON 66/MWh in 2016 and RON 72/MWh in 2017.

The price in 2008 was agreed to RON 78/MWh, which is the current average price on the open market. If in 2018 prices on the free market will be more than RON 78/MWh, a new timetable will be scheduled by 2021.

For each new price the Ministry of Energy will have to prepare a draft Governmental Decision that will be published for public debate at least 10 days.

Niculae Havrilet, head of the National Energy Regulatory Agency said the final price of natural gas paid by households will increase by 5-8 percent on July 1. According to him, the gas price increase is due to the liberalization of the production price of natural gas, a process undertaken by the Government. Romania has committed to the EC and IMF to eliminate regulated prices for gas and electricity. Gas market was liberalized for companies on January 1, 2014, thus only population currently receives gas at regulated prices.