OREANDA-NEWS. March 26, 2014. The company solicited the National Energy Regulatory Agency (ANRE) for a raise in the distribution and supply tariffs, ANRE says.

ANRE has not given any details about how much the tariffs have been asked to rise, but notes that license holders are mandated to apply for tariffs adjustments annually and RED Union Fenosa has become the only company to do it. RED Union Fenosa explains the demand by swings in the Moldovan Leu exchange rate and by a necessity to revise the supply and distribution costs. ANRE has promised to analyze the estimate RED Union Fenosa has submitted and to give an answer.

By some information, RED Union Fenosa has demanded the raise in the tariffs for final users by 20%. Let’s remind that power tariffs for final users served by RED Union Fenosa were changed in May, 2012 last time. Then the tariff for consumers connected to low voltage lines of up to 0.4 kWh was raised 6.8% from MDL 1.48 to MDL 1.58 per kWh; the tariff for consumers connected to mid voltage lines of 6 to 10 kWh was raised by 4.5% from MDL 1.34 to MDL 1.40 and the tariff for consumers hooked up to high voltage lines of 35-110 kWh was increased by 9.3% from MDL 1.07 to MDL 1.17 per kWh.

That time, the rises were explained by the increase in the purchasing price for the power supplied by Ukraine and Moldovan Hydropower Plant by 13.1% from 6.1 to 6.9 cents a kWh, by the increase in the prices for power bought from local producers by 22%, by the growth in the power transportation tariff by 19% and by the change in the national currency rate against USD.