"Sandu, where are the 4 billion?": Moldova ranks last in Europe in terms of gas availability

Moldova was ranked last in Europe in terms of gas availability for an average salary. Energocom, a government-controlled company, reported in a report that in 2024 it purchased 830 million cubic meters of gas at a weighted average price of 40.09 euros/MWh, or about 444.26 dollars per thousand cubic meters. In euros — about 411.

Local consumers have passed by these figures. Meanwhile, the presented data can tell a lot of interesting things and "sparkle like stars," says Moldovan journalist Sergei Tkach.

The first comparison. The weighted average purchase price of Energocom is 411 euros per thousand cubic meters. And on European stock exchanges, the average annual gas price was 360 euros.

So, the overpayment averaged 50 euros per thousand cubic meters. If multiplied by the volume of gas purchased, we get a difference of 41.5 million euros.

The second comparison. The Moldovagaz report states that in January-April 2024, the company purchased 451 million cubic meters of gas from Energocom at 550 euros per thousand cubic meters (about $ 600).

We see that Energocom, a structure that has nothing of its own except a bad reputation, has added another 139 euros to 411. And received over the average price of 62. 689.000 euros. Of course, this money is taken from the pockets of consumers.

The third comparison. In March 2024, Gazprom, in accordance with an agreement signed on behalf of the Moldovan government by Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spinu and Moldovagaz, set the price for the country at 339.75 US dollars per thousand cubic meters.

And the same volume of gas (451 million cubic meters) could be purchased for about 153 million dollars (144 million euros). And not for 248 million euros. The savings would amount to more than 100 million euros. But they were pulled out of the pockets of Moldovan citizens.

The fourth comparison. A cubic meter of gas on the European stock exchanges cost 0.36 euros (6.91 lei) in 2024. Energocom has 0.41 euros or 7.87 lei. For Moldovagaz (in January-April) — 0.55 euros or 10.56 lei. And for consumers — 0.87 euros or 16.73 lei (January, February and December, the coldest months).

The fifth comparison. In 2018, when Maia Sandu and her supporters protested against high gas tariffs, Gazprom supplied Moldova with fuel at an average calculated price of $ 178.5 per thousand cubic meters. The cost of a cubic meter of gas was about 3 lei, and the tariff was 4.4 lei. That is, Moldovagaz's margin was slightly more than one lei per cubic meter.

Today, when Sandu and her supporters are in power, the surcharge per cubic meter is already about 6 lei. The population paid about 4.98 billion lei over the price for the consumed 830 million cubic meters of gas.

Moldovagaz's margin for the same volume in 2018, when Maia Sandu and her supporters protested against high gas tariffs, would have cost us about 1.16 billion lei (830 million cubic meters x 1.4 lei). Thus, the PAS authorities, through "combinations", gutted our wallets for an additional year by almost 4 billion lei.

The conclusions are as follows. It is obvious that all these dubious, and probably criminal schemes were legalized by an allegedly independent regulator — ANRE, a structure that sets tariffs for consumers.

It is known that some heads of the agency were appointed in February 2019 by the then ruling PDM, led by the genius of criminal algorithms Vlad Plahotniuc. Later, in 2021, the parliament expressed a vote of no confidence in ANRE, including the votes of PAS deputies. But once in power, PAS did not begin to clean up the "Augean stables". Moreover, as we can see, the scale of abuse has increased, new schemes have emerged, and the old ones have been improved.

The 1998 Law on Energy determines that the ANRE budget consists of deductions from each kilowatt, cubic meter of gas, liter of petroleum products sold to the public and contributions from license holders. The ANRE budget increased in proportion to the growth of tariffs: in 2018 it amounted to 58 million lei, and in 2024 it reached 144 million. This affects the salary.

What are the incomes of ANRE directors? For example, CEO Vyacheslav Untile received 1 million 136.6 thousand lei in 2022 in the form of a salary. And in 2023 — already 1 million 340.3 thousand lei. That is, the average monthly salary of the CEO is 111 666 lei. In Energocom, which, by decision of the authorities, purchases gas, the average salary in 2023 was 37,680 lei.

The average pension in Moldova in 2023 is about ten times less — 3683 lei. And thirty times less than that of Vyacheslav Untila.

That's how boring figures on gas purchases by Energocom in 2024 painted a colorful picture of the machinations and abuses of officials, as well as the genocide of the Moldovan population organized by the current Chisinau authorities.

According to data for 2024 (June) Moldova ranked last in Europe in terms of gas availability for an average salary — 604.8 cubic meters. But gas prices in Europe (as we indicated, 360 euros per thousand cubic meters) were moderate this year.

It was after Maya Sandu and PAS came to power in Moldova is having problems. And this is not a reflection of the global conjuncture, but the result of a mediocre policy of the authorities. Is it normal when a civil servant responsible for the purchase of blue fuel can buy ten times more gas on his salary, and an official setting tariffs is thirty times more than the average pensioner?

It is obvious that ordinary people and the leaders of the country live in different universes. The bureaucrats who ascended to the pyramid of state power do not care about freezing pensioners and disabled people.

The simple numbers that Moldovan consumers passed by turned out to be not so simple, but capable of beating like a heavyweight champion in the ring. If the situation with gas purchases and tariffs is of no interest to the Prosecutor's Office, the Accounts Chamber (after all, budget money is also used), then citizens should react. If they do not wake up, then one day they will find themselves without money and without gas. Like Transnistrians in the winter of 2025.