Estonia’s largest natural gas distributor network operator Eesti Gaas is cutting the price of gas for household customers by 8% from March, following the fall in world gas prices. Natural gas prices reached record levels in Estonia from last fall.
“We have decided to lower the price of the flexible package for residential customers by 8% from March 1, the new price is EUR 1.19 per cubic meter,” a spokesperson for the company said.
“Although the gas market is still volatile, prices have fallen somewhat recently and we will be able to offer more favorable prices to residential customers in March,” said Raul Kotov, Member of the Management Board at Eesti Gaas.
He promised that the company would personally inform its customers of the new price, along with the invoices for February.
“We will also monitor how the markets react to current events and inform customers of possible further price changes on an ongoing basis,” Kotov added.
Commenting on the change in the world gas market price last week, which fell from EUR 175 per MWh at the end of December 2021 to about EUR 75 peer MWh in February, Kotov said that these were individual day prices, but that Eesti Gaas would set its tariff based on a monthly forecast.
“Our sales are based on the prices of listed products a month earlier, the changes of which are not so sharp. Compared to December 2021, the expected base for March is 10% lower, while January and February have been higher in the meantime,” he said.
Kotov said that the sales price of gas to residential customers had not moved at exactly the same pace as the world market trading point (TTF) price, as the aim had been to avoid sharp price jumps as much as possible.
“In January, however, the price of residential customers increased by 28% compared to December 2021, which was a smaller increase than TTF would have expected. In February, the sales price increased by 13% and is currently EUR 102.38 per MWh plus VAT, lower than other gas sellers,” the member of Eesti Gaas added. (ERR/Business World Magazine)