Georgia, Tbilisi/ Trend , corr. N. Kirtskhalia/ The Georgian National Energy Regulating Committee has made a decision today to increase the tariffs on gas in the country starting from May 1, 2007.
The Economic Department of the mentioned Committee has submitted the data, according to which "KazTransGaz" insists on raising the tariff up to 71.42 tetris (100 tetris - 1 Georgian Lari). According to the decision made by the Georgian National Energy Regulating Committee, the gas tariff for the population will make up 50.62 tetris, 41.07 tetris - for small-sized enterprises), and 37.37 tetris - for large-scale enterprises. The tariff for all the aforesaid has previously been 34.2 tetris.
During the elaboration of the project, the National Energy Regulating Committee based upon the price on the gas imported from Russia ($235 per 1.000 cubic meters of gas) and that one received from Azerbaijan ($120 per 1.000 cubic meters). Notably, last year, Georgia bought gas only from Russia at the price of $110 per 1.000 cubic meters.
The Committee also took into consideration a $125-million credit, the Georgian Government had allotted for acquiring the expensive gas. Notably, the interest rate of the mentioned credit is 0.5%. Gas distributing companies operating in the country are to pay it until 2008.
Taking into consideration all the mentioned components, the weighted average tariff made up $167.5 per 1.000 cubic meters instead of the previous $110 per 1.000 cubic meters (last year's tariff). The new project has taken into account the prices on gas in the regions of the country, where they have ranged between 48 and 53 tetris.