Moldovan Prime Minister on developments in energy sector after 1 January

Chisinau, Dec. 18 /MOLDPRES/- Prime Minister Dorin Recean clarified today the developments in the energy sector after 1 January 2025. The official pointed out that if Russia does not deliver natural gas to the Dniester left bank, then electricity tariffs could increase, but at the same time the authorities will increase the budget for compensations to citizens to reduce the impact of the price hikes.

"We have to prepare ourselves, and this is what the government is preparing for, that if Russia does not deliver natural gas to the left bank of the Dniester, then we will increase electricity tariffs, but at the same time we will grant additional compensation to those who will suffer. We have already allocated about 2 billion lei for compensations for this cold season and if necessary we will increase them," he said.

Recean said that the authorities will use "all possibilities to provide energy for Moldova" and at the same time will come up with "additional help" for citizens in case of a possible tariff increase. "We are continuously having discussions to lower the tariffs for electricity that can be produced and delivered in the Republic of Moldova in such a way that we lessen the impact. But the most important thing is that we will come up with additional help for our citizens," he said.

The official admitted that we might have some power outages, but only isolated, for a very limited time, when for example the energy infrastructure in Ukraine will be affected.

As for Gazprom's natural gas supplies to the Transnistrian region after January 1, 2025, Recean pointed out that "there is an assumption that for 2.5 million cubic meters of natural gas a reservation has been made". "We can only make an assumption. Given that this reservation was made not by Gazprom, we could think that it was made for the delivery of natural gas to the left bank of the Dniester. This means that there are only the volumes that are needed for the left bank of the Dniester, without electricity being delivered to the right bank, and this means that we have to prepare for the increase in the price of electricity and correspondingly in tariffs, and the Government is preparing for the budget supplement for compensation. We cannot speculate. We must be prepared for the worst-case scenario, and that means Russia not honoring its obligations, not delivering natural gas to the left bank of the Dniester and destabilizing the situation," Recean noted.

The Prime Minister urged the citizens to show solidarity, use energy resources rationally and apply measures to save electricity.