March 30 (SeeNews) - Romania will continue the liberalisation of its gas market next month, which will result in a 2% price hike for households, the energy ministry and energy regulator ANRE said on Thursday.
Before deciding to go on with the liberalisation, the energy ministry consulted members of the government, parliament and European Commission (EC) representatives, it said in a press release.
"We analyzed all opinions and we did not identify enough technical reasons for Romania to postpone again a process that should have been implemented since 2007, the year the country joined the European Union," energy minister, Toma Petcu said.
If Romania further delayed this decision, it would have faced fines from the European Commission and was in danger of losing the EU funds allocated to the BRUA gas pipeline. Romanian gas transmission system operator Transgaz received last year 180 million euro from the EC for the first phase of the BRUA project, which will link the gas networks of Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria.
"Regarding the public concerns about a possible substantial increase in gas prices for the population after the liberalisation, this is also unjustified. The population will be protected until June 30, 2021 through final prices regulated by ANRE. The advantage is that after April 1, trading in natural gas will be made in terms of economic efficiency through a transparent process of procurement that will allow non-discriminatory access to all market participants," the minister added.
In a separate statement on Thursday, ANRE said that gas prices for households will increase by maximum 2% starting in April.
Romania's Federation of Associations of Energy Utility Companies, ACUE, said earlier this month that the country's gas market is not ready for a sudden price liberalisation, as the final price for households could jump.
Although it fully supports the liberalization of the gas market in Romania, ACUE thinks the process should be carried out gradually, the federation said.
The Romanian natural gas market has been gradually liberalised from 2001 to July 1, 2007, when it was fully opened for all customers who are now able to choose their own supplier. Also, from 2007 to 2015, the market has been liberalised for non-household customers but the process has been postponed several times for households consumers.
The gas price on the regulated market currently is 60 lei ($14/13 euro) per MWh.
(1 euro=4.5446 lei)