Engie notifies Romanian customers of gas price hike as per Govt. ordinance

Engie, one of Romania’s two major natural gas supply and distribution groups, notified its clients about an imminent price hike to be operated in response to articles 61 and 78 of the Government’s emergency ordinance 114/2018, which introduces new taxes in the energy sector, among others. The magnitude of the price hike will be announced upon thorough evaluation of the ordinance’s effects and Engie stressed that this change will be enforceable upon notification and not subject to negotiation, local Economica.net reported. The ordinance’s Article 61 deals with the regulated natural gas (and electricity) prices guaranteed to residential users while Article 78 regards the 2% turnover tax to be paid by companies in the energy sector. Notably, importers of Russian natural gas have already hiked their prices by 2% effective January 1, immediately after the enforcement of the ordinance. ANRE has already asked the energy companies to specify what portion of their turnover was derived under the licenses extended by the market regulator. The 2% tax will be levied on the entire turnover unless the companies declare voluntarily the requested information. Romanian energy companies will pay 2% tax on their 2018 turnover editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Shutterstock)