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The lowest weighted average purchase price of natural gas for Latvian natural gas traders was fixed in August last year. From then until March of this year, the price of natural gas has increased to approximately 15 EUR / MWh.
Changes in the price of natural gas were influenced by its increase on European natural gas exchanges. For example, if the average monthly price of German Gaspool in March 2020 was 9.07 EUR / MWh, in March this year it was 17.99 EUR / MWh, but in May it was already 25.20 EUR / MWh. Similar trends are observed in stock exchanges of other European countries – the Netherlands, Belgium, etc.
“As conditions in Covid-19 change, the economy is gradually recovering, followed by growing demand for natural gas in the United States, Asia and Europe. We see that the filling of European storage facilities is also significantly lower this year than a year ago, because due to the cold winter and cold spring, the consumption of natural gas for heating grew rapidly. As the demand for natural gas increases and at the moment when natural gas reserves in European storage facilities are low, the price of natural gas on European exchanges also increases, ”says Jānis Negribs, a representative of PUC.
At the end of the withdrawal season, on 30 April 2020, the European average storage occupancy was 62%, compared to 30% this year.
“Delfi Business” has already written, that in the second half of 2021, the final tariffs for natural gas sales to households for Latvijas Gāze customers will increase by 1-2 cents for each kilowatt hour (kWh) consumed, including value added tax (VAT) and excise tax if natural gas is used as fuel .
Also jau reportedthat the price of electricity has also increased significantly this year. In June, the average price of the ‘NordPool’ power exchange in the Latvian trading area was 76.23 euros per megawatt hour (EUR / MWh), which is 57.4% higher than in May and 140% higher than a year ago, according to the Latvian electricity transmission system operator AS “High voltage network“aggregated information.
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