Petrom: Romania Should Free Gas Market For Companies First, Protect Households

This measure would help reduce household gas bills by 15% and it would protect vulnerable consumers, company official Hilmar Kroat-Reder told MEDIAFAX.

For industrial consumers, liberalization would lead to a price that reflects the supply-demand ratio, said Kroat-Reder, who is Petrom’s Executive Board member responsible for gas & power.

The company has sent authorities propositions for the amendment of local gas legislation, in compliance with EU requirements.

European legislation states that gas price regulation should only refer to vulnerable consumers, while all other categories should use liberalized prices on a competitive market.

Early-February, the International Monetary Fund asked Romanian authorities to deregulate gas and electricity prices and to come up with a new price calculation formula.

Later, the government announced that a deregulation calendar would be set up by September 2011, and deregulation would unfold between 2013 and 2015.