The National Agency for Energy Regulation (ANRE) responded to the accusations by SRL “Rotalin Gaz Trading,” clarifying the main aspects in an official statement. Licensed for the distribution and supply of natural gas since 2005, “Rotalin Gaz Trading” was obliged by ANRE decisions to respect the regulated prices for its services. Despite this, the company procured gas at lower prices from international markets, accumulating a substantial tariff surplus.
After repeated requests, “Rotalin Gaz Trading” finally applied for approval of regulated prices in July 2023, including the accumulated tariff surplus. However, the company refused to comply with the regulated prices subsequently approved by ANRE in September 2023, requesting to be exempted from the obligation to supply gas at these prices. As a result, ANRE issued compliance prescriptions, which “Rotalin Gaz Trading” failed to comply with, leading to the suspension of its natural gas supply license in October 2023.
ANRE pointed out that the company’s current license allows the continuation of transactions at negotiated prices but without restrictions related to regulated prices. Moreover, ANRE denounced the “unconstructive and manipulative” behavior of “Rotalin Gaz Trading,” which used unfounded arguments and defamatory statements against the authorities to maintain its accumulated revenue surplus to the detriment of consumers.
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The Rotalin gas scandal burst out in September 2023 when ANRE reduced gas tariffs for Rotalin Gas consumers to 11.71 lei, including TVA, nine bani less than the operator requested. The regulator justified its decision following financial deviations of 40 million lei. The operator didn’t agree and stated that it would bring him financial losses. As a result, he declared that he was suspending his activity.
ANRE considered that Rotalin Gaz had purchased gas at a different price than Moldovagaz, finding that the company should have returned approximately 40 million lei to consumers. Rotalin Gaz didn’t agree with this assessment and announced that it would prefer to suspend its activity than supply gas at the rates set by ANRE.