The fertilizer manufacturer Achema, the largest single gas consumer in Lithuania, pays the largest share of the costs.
The National Commission for Energy Control and Prices, the energy market regulator, last Friday set the supply security component of the gas tariff at 578.01 euros per megawatt-hours (MWh) per day, 27% higher than this year.
The Energy Ministry says, however, that the supply security component should only increase by 12% if the government approves a proposal to fund the seventh and eighth units of Lietuvos Elektrine (Lithuanian Power Plant), which will ensure a reserve for the electricity system, via public service obligation (PSO) payments. That means that these units would burn LNG, thus bringing down the supply security charge.
"This decision will have the biggest impact on consumers using gas as a reserve fuel or those using it on a non-regular basis, which should reduce heating prices," the ministry told.
The energy market regulator says that, based on data from the natural gas transmission system operator Amber Grid, which administers the LNG supply security charge, the gas consumption capacity is set to decline by 20%, with orders for 2018 amounting to 150,000 MWh per day, down from 187,300 MWh in 2017.
Consumers are to pay around 88.5 million euros in the LNG supply security charge this year, including the share of Litgas, a state-owned company designated by the government to ensure the supply of LNG to regulated consumers.
