Alexei Taran
According to Alexei Taran, the agency’s CEO, the agency is currently in the process of evaluating and approving Energocom’s base costs, which include material, salary and administrative costs.
Alexei Taran, ANRE director: “This is an important component of the structure of regulated supply prices. Once we approve Energocom’s base costs, i.e. their actual operating costs, it will also be necessary to approve the investments realized in 2025. To do this, Energocom must submit a supplemental application for investment approval. Once these two aspects are approved, we can talk about Energocom filing an application for approval of regulated natural gas supply prices. At the moment there is no such application from Energocom”.
He clarified at the press conference that since Energocom is a new supplier, previously it had no public service obligations and was not regulated for natural gas supply, all the indicators and all these costs are approved for it from scratch.
Alexey Taran presented a detailed formula for calculating the regulated price of natural gas.
The regulated price for natural gas is not only the price of gas purchase, but also a number of other components,” ANRE said, assuring the transparency of their setting.
According to the agency, no component of the regulated price is set arbitrarily and does not go beyond the approved regulatory procedures.
Price formula
The procurement cost of natural gas is 9381 MDL/1000 m³, equivalent to 9.38 lei/m³ or approximately 46 EUR/MWh. The procurement cost represents about 60% of the regulated price structure.
The cost of gas transportation service (component reflecting the cost of transportation service at the outlet of gas transmission networks) – 254 MDL/1000 m³ or 0.25 MDL/m³ without VAT (about 0.27 MDL/m³ with VAT), which represents 2% of the regulated price structure.
Cost of gas distribution service – 4401 lei/1000 m³ or 4.4 lei/m³ without VAT (4.75 lei/m³ with VAT), about 28% of the regulated price structure.
Total costs of the supplier for supply activities – 625 lei/1000 m³ or 0.63 lei/m³ (0.67 lei/m³ with VAT), which constitutes about 4% of the regulated price structure.
The supplier’s profit margin is 90 lei/1000 m³, which is less than 1% of the total component cost. In terms of price per m³ – 0.09 lei (approximately 0.1 lei/m³ including VAT).
Tariff deviations in the form of deficit accumulated during 2024 due to the sharp increase of market prices in the second half of the year and included for compensation in the regulation period 2025 – 750 lei/1000 m³ or 0.75 lei/m³ without VAT (0.81 lei/m³ with VAT), which constitutes about 5% of the regulated price structure.
The Agency emphasizes that the claims that the difference between the regulated price per m³ paid by consumers and the actual cost of natural gas is “profit” or “theft and schemes” are erroneous and manipulative and have a clear aim to mislead the public.
The publication of Energocom’s draft base costs will launch public consultations, after which final decisions will be made, taking into account the analysis of proposals and comments.
Andrei Nasu
There are preconditions for reduction
Andrei Nasu, legal consultant at the European Consumer Rights Protection Center of Moldova, said in a commentary for Logos Press that the current tariff for end consumers should be considered as both fair and inevitable.
Andrei Nasu, expert: “It is fair because it is based on the transparent methodology of ANRE regulation, which checks every cost component and limits the supplier’s profit to less than 1%. At the same time, the tariff is inevitable because Moldova does not have its own gas production or internal gas storage facilities and depends on prices on international markets. The final price is formed on the basis of quotations of European gas hubs and logistics costs for gas delivery to the national system”.
According to him, in the future there are prerequisites for reducing the tariff, given the efficiency of purchases made by Energocom JSC for the heating season at average prices below the reference level included in the current tariff.
“Nevertheless, the final decision will be made by ANRE after the completion of the audit of Energocom’s base costs and the closing of the fiscal year,” emphasized Andrei Nasu.
At the same time, he drew attention to the remaining risks to the country’s energy security.
“For more effective protection of consumers, it is necessary to accelerate the digitalization of the market, introduce price comparison tools and ensure strict control of gas distribution costs, which form a significant share – about 28% – in the final price,” the expert concluded.
