OREANDA-NEWS. January 15, 2010. The new fees were approved by the National Power Regulating Agency to bring them in line with their real cost.

The growth of tariffs resulted mainly from the increase in the purchasing price of Russian natural gas to US 233 from US192 for 1,000 cubic meters starting from January 1, 2010, change of the leu’s exchange rate against US dollar and other objective factors. According to the NPRA’s decision, in particular, the average fee for natural gas for final consumers was increased by 13.9 percent – to 3,542 leis for 1,000 cubic meters (without VAT).

The gas fee for heating plants grew by 10 percent – to 3,016 leis, for population on average – by 16.5 percent – to 3,842 leis. The tariff for gas for domestic consumers with the monthly volume of consumption of up to 30 cubic meters will amount to 3,574 leis for 1,000 cubic meters, with the consumption of over 30 cubic meters – 3,992 leis for 1,000 cubic meters.

Prices of electric power supplied to consumers by the RED Union Fenosa company (Chisinau, Central, Southern electricity distributing networks), have been increased by 21 percent – from 1.1 leis to 1.33 leis for 1 kWh. Electricity supplied by the RED-Nord and RED-Vest companies will become 19.2 percent more expensive – from 1.2 leis to 1.43 leis for 1 kWh.

The tariff for thermal energy supplied by the Termocom was increased by 29.3 percent – from 540 to 699 leis for 1 gigacalory. The NPRA’s decision will become effective after publication in Monitorul Oficial.