101 MPs Endorse Gas Billing Inquiry

Alina Toma Vereha

Adrian Gurzau MP has collected 101 signatures from fellow MPs - double as much as the minimum required by law - to endorse the start of an inquiry into how invoices for natural gas are calculated in kWh. Gurzau, who is also Vice Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies Committee for Abuses, told BURSA: "We submitted the list of signatures to the PD-L Parliamentary Group. The approval of the inquiry panel will be done by the Standing Bureau as soon as possible. I am glad that more MPs want to find out what is going on with the price of natural gas and to debate the consumption basket, that is, the ratio, between domestic gas and imported gas, considering that we are facing a difficult economic year and we need to make sure that the population will get invoices they can afford to pay."

Recently interviewed by BURSA, Adrian Gurzau explained that gas invoices to individual consumers were 25% inflated through a complicated calculation formula approved by the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) in order to switch from invoicing cubic meters to invoicing kWh. The problems are allegedly not related to the formula itself, but to the meters measuring the volume of consumed gas, and also to the way of calculating the higher caloric power of the gas.

Gurzau explained that the scope of the inquiry was much wider and it included other institutions besides ANRE, which were directly involved in the approval of the formula and the technical parameters used to calculate the invoices. The State Asset Recovery Authority (AVAS), which ensures the monitoring of post-privatization measures, will have to explain to the MPs how natural gas distributors have fulfilled their investment commitments stipulated in privatization contracts. Additionally, ANRE will have to prove whether the obligation of the distributors to reduce their fees by 15% after the first three years from the privatization date has been respected. The MPs will also discuss with ANRE specialists ways to correctly and transparently inform the population about the kWh-based formula and the way in which the investments made by gas distributors in the distribution network reflect on the final price.