101 members of the chamber of deputies have signed in favor of investigating gas bills

Alina Toma Vereha

Deputy Adrian Gurzău raised 101 signatures from members of the Parliament, double the number required by the law, in favor of launching an investigation on the methodology used for calculating the invoices for natural gas in kWh. Deputy Gurzău, who is also the vice-president of the Abuse commission of the Chamber of Deputies, issued the following statement: "We have submitted the signatures with the group of the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL), and the investigation commission will be appointed by the Permanent Office, within the briefest delays. I am glad that there are many deputies that are interested in how the price of natural gas is set, and in debating the monthly consumption expenditure of the population, specifically the domestically produced/imported natural gas ratio, especially as there is a difficult year coming and we must ensure that people are facing bearable expenses".

In a recent interview with our newspaper, Adrian Gurzău said that we are being legally ripped off by companies which overcharge by as much as 25%, using complicated formulas for calculating prices. The price calculation method was approved by ANRE (the energy market watchdog, which sets the price of gas and electricity) in order to switch from cubic meters pricing to kWh pricing. The problem is not the formula itself, but rather the counters which measure the gas consumption, as well as the way the superior heating power of gas is determined.

Mr. Gurzău mentioned that the investigation has a wide scope and involves other institutions apart from the ANRE (the energy market regulator), which are directly involved in the approval of the formula and of the technical parameters for calculating the invoices. AVAS (Authority for State Assets Recovery) officials which are tasked with monitoring the implementation of post-privatization steps, will have to inform members of the Parliament on whether gas distribution and production companies carried out their investment commitments which they undertook as part of their privatization contracts. Moreover, ANRE will have to prove whether it enforced the obligation of gas distributors to cut their tariffs by 15%, within the first three years after their privatization. Deputies will also discuss with ANRE experts ways of informing the population correctly on how natural gas prices are calculated using the kWh formula and on how investments made by the distributors affect end-user prices.