The price of gas for household consumers in Romania will increase by 5.83% starting August 1, the energy sector regulator ANRE announced.

The authority said it decided to approve this price increase at the suppliers’ request due to higher costs, Agerpres reported.

The price of gas from the domestic production has increased after April 1, 2017, when the authorities ended its price control policy.

The Finance Ministry recently published a draft decision for capping the price of gas sold by domestic producers at RON 55 per MWh until June 30, 2021, but the project was removed from the ministry’s website one day after it was announced.

Currently, the price of gas sold by domestic producers isn’t controlled by the state but the price of gas paid by final household consumers is regulated by ANRE. Thus, when producers increase prices, suppliers also put pressure on ANRE to increase the regulated price.

The state also gains from higher gas prices as the producers pay a 60% tax on the extra revenues made from the gas price increases. Two companies, namely OMV Petrom and Romgaz cover over 90% of the domestic gas production while the dominant gas suppliers are German group E.On and French group Engie, which also manage the biggest distribution networks in the country.

editor@romania-insider.com