Heating prices could go up 51 percent

  • 2009-01-07
  • By Adam Mullett
VILNIUS - Vilniaus Energija, the heating supplier to Vilnius, has announced plans to increase heating prices in homes by 51.1 percent to 34.09 Lithuanian centas (9.88 euro cents) per kilowatt-hour (kWh), not including the value-added tax (VAT), starting February.

Vilniaus Energija confirmed to The Baltic Times that it had asked the Vilnius municipal government and the National Control Commission for Prices and Energy to allow price rises due to rising gas prices. The proposed price hike still requires approval before becoming a reality.
Vilniaus Energija spokeman Nerijus Nikalajunas said that heating prices have not been revised for some time and need to be adjusted.

"This is unfortunate, but the sole reason for the increase in prices is the price of gas 's not one litas will go into the accounts of Vilniaus Energija," he said in defense of the rises.
Director of the Social Help Center, Solveiga Jankauskaite, told The Baltic Times that people with low incomes will be hit the worst by the price rises as it represents a large proportion of their income.
"The price of heating is already too high. It is hard to say how much this will affect people until we see it, but it will depend on the condition of their house, the type of heating and how many children they have."
Nikalajunas said the last time the heating tariff was changed for Vilnius was in February, one year ago, compared to other Lithuanian cities, which were revised a few months ago.

The law allows for price changes twice per year, given a change in production prices.
Antanas Katinas, head of the heating department at the National Control Commission for Prices and Energy told TBT that the rise in prices is the right thing to do with rising gas costs, but the price is not yet fixed.
"The rise in prices is right, but I don't know if it will go up to the level they want," he said.
The prices are set to increase the heating bills for houses drastically.

"They want to raise the price of heating by 51 percent from 22.56 litas per kilowatt hour to 34.09 litas. Per square meter 's this will be between one and four litas depending on if the house is new and if the insulation is good."

Katinas said that gas prices have risen proportionally to the request by Vilniaus Energija.
"We are watching prices 's most of the price rises will be from the gas price. Gas has gone up by around 12 percent each month since last year. It was about 800 litas per thousand cubic meters in June last year and now it is 1500 litas."
Vilnius' residents currently pay 22.56 centas per kWh of heating energy plus VAT.
In the context of wild fluctuations in gas prices, Nikalajunas said they were in talks with lawmakers to change the law regarding price changes.

"The law says that we can change the tariffs once per year or twice per year if the price of gas changes by 15 percent. This year it has changed by 60 percent."
"There are currently talks that are discussing whether the tariffs could be changed once per month. This would be good for people because it would mean they aren't paying more," he said.