Slovak gas utility Slovenský Plynárenský Priemysel (SPP) is preparing for regulation of the household gas market to remain in place next year, even though the signals still aren't clear, it says.
"We'll see how the regulator [the Office for the Regulation of Network Industries (ÚRSO)] reacts. Anyway, more than ten companies are providing gas to households at the moment," Dušan Randuška from SPP's trading department said, as quoted by the TASR newswire on Tuesday, October 18.
SPP representatives point out that competition already exists in every sector of the gas market. They say that competition has been growing in the household sector since earlier this year, and argue that there is no further reason for regulation. "Some room should be left for market forces," Randuška said. "We're still responsible for around 1.4 million households," he added, stressing that household consumption has to be covered by long-term contracts, but that these also bring higher prices.
Randuška did not want to elaborate on the specific price proposal that SPP would submit to the regulatory authority at an upcoming meeting, the SITA newswire wrote.
Sources: TASR, SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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