​ANRE PROPOSES TO ELECTRICITY AND GAS PROVIDERS TO CONDUCT AN AUDIT BEFORE DEMANDING TARIFF RAISING

The National Energy Regulatory Agency (ANRE) proposed to importers and suppliers of electricity and natural gas to conduct an international audit at their enterprises, before demanding the raising of tariffs ,said National Energy Regulatory Agency (ANRE) Director Sergiu Ciobanu during Wednesday’s meeting of the parliamentary Standing Committee on Economy, Budget and Finance.

He said that he proposed to the largest operators to resort to audit help of the Big Four Group [major companies, which provide audit and consulting services – Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers].

“We conducted hearings with participation of many political experts, but we came to the conclusion that the audit should be entrusted to companies, not involved in political processes. We have three weeks before the expiry of the term for providing audit reports by companies. After this we will take decision on tariffs”, Ciobanu said.

According to him, expenditures for conducting audits will be carried out by operators on the market of electricity and gas, while its cost will be included in tariffs for final consumers. The ANRE Director said that raising of tariffs will be insignificant.

“If the audit shows that the ANRE raised tariffs more than it was necessary, I assure that we will change our decision. However, we have to wait 2-3 weeks till the presenting of results”, Ciobanu said.

Deputies demanded from the ANRE Head information on court proceedings with Gas Natural Fenosa (GNF) in the court under the World Bank (WB). The GNF demanded 2 billion lei from the ANRE as compensation for losses due to the national currency depreciation.

According to Ciobanu, in case of defeat, tariffs on electricity will have to be raised by more than 37%, as ordinary consumers will suffer losses. He also said that GNF complaint concerns the fact that the Agency did not included the exchange rate difference in tariffs, trying to contain their growth. In this connection, ANRE Director told about its suggestion to GNF to conduct stepwise raising of tariffs in order to cover the difference.

As Infotag has already reported, on July 18, the ANRE decided to raise tariffs on natural gas and electricity by 15% and 37%, respectively. At the beginning of September, the Agency suspended its decision for 60 days, proposing to conduct an audit.