Energy, Gas, Latvia, Legislation
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Thursday, 18.04.2024, 08:56
Latvijas Gaze subsidiary Gaso submits new tariff plans to regulator
At the same time, there will be a fixed fee for natural gas connection,
depending on the connection capacity.
"The proposed tariff plan is a carefully weighed step that should be
made to adapt to the new situation in the natural gas market and to ensure the
necessary safety standards. Safety of natural gas infrastructure refers to all
consumers, therefore the natural gas distribution network should be maintained
and renovated," said Gaso board
chairwoman Ilze Petersone-Godmane.
She said that the main and local gas distribution pipelines initially had
been projected for larger capacities, while natural gas consumption has
decreased in the past years. Some customers have gas connection capacities that
are not used, therefore they should be revised and made efficient.
90% of the costs in the gas distribution system are fixed and do not depend
by the amount of consumed gas – the system has to be maintained, renewed, the
necessary safety measures have to be taken irrespective of amount of gas
consumption. The old tariffs, however, depend mostly on the amount of gas
consumption, thus, posing serious threat to stable and secure maintenance of
the system.
In line with the new tariff plan, customers who consume natural gas up to 6
m3 per hour will have a fixed fee at EUR 1.77 per month, customers consuming
6-10 m3 per hour will have to pay EUR 6.63 per month, and customer consuming
10-16 m3 per hour will have to pay EUR 10.6 a month in the fixed fee.
Larger customers with a consumption of more than 16 m3 per hour will have a
fixed payment calculated per unit of allowed capacity.
As reported, Gaso started operations
on December 1, 2017.
According to the European Union directives and the Energy Law, Latvijas Gaze had to separate natural
gas distribution and transmission systems by January 1, 2018. The natural gas
transmission and storage functions were separated from Latvijas Gaze by the establishment of Conexus Baltic Grid in 2016,
a company that is independent from Latvijas
Gaze. On the other hand, natural gas distribution operator may be a
subsidiary of Latvijas Gaze.
The company’s board chairwoman is Ilze Petersone-Godmane, and other board
members are Anton Bubenov, Joachim
Hockertz, Baiba Bebre and Aleksandrs
Koposovs.
Gaso’s share capital
is EUR 39.9 million comprised of 39.9 shares with a face value of EUR 1 each.