The price of natural gas for households will probably increase, the head of the Regulatory Council, Jozef Holjenčík, has stated. "We will probably have to react to the development of crude oil prices on the global market. We are not pessimistic at the moment, but we will have to change the price of natural gas in a short time," Holjenčík told the EEE 2008 energy conference. He declined to specify by how much the price of natural gas would increase, since gas utility Slovenský Plynárenský Priemysel (SPP) has not yet asked the regulatory authority to approve a gas price increase.
If global oil prices do not fall, the price of natural gas will increase in the second half of 2009, Holjenčík was quoted as saying by the SITA newswire. The Slovak crown’s strengthening value against the U.S. dollar has helped to hold the gas price for Slovak households at current levels, since gas prices are linked to oil, which is priced in dollars. But Holjenčík assumes that the growth in the price of crude oil on global markets will influence the price of heating supplies for households. He expects the regulatory authority to obtain the first proposals for higher heat prices from local central heating plants in August or September this year. SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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