Aligning the local gas prices to the international ones will bring a change in the Romanian consumers’ behavior, as they will become more careful with their energy consumption, said Eric Stab, general manager of GDF Suez Energy Romania, one of the biggest gas distributors and suppliers in Romania.

Deregulation is a normal process for any market, but the transition from a tightly regulated system to a deregulated one should be made gradually, so that the consumers should not be burdened, reports local Agerpres.

Starting July this year, the gas price went up by 11% for the GDF Suez customers. The increase was due to the growth in the gas acquisition price and in the other costs which are included in the final price structure.

Gas price for household consumers in Romania will increase on average by 5% a year until 2018. The growth is based on the liberalization schedule for the regulated gas market agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

editor@romania-insider.com