Natural gas prices for households in Lithuania will rise by up to 41.5 percent from July, depending on the amount of gas consumed.
The country’s National Energy Regulatory Council (VERT) on Tuesday announced new gas prices set to come into force on July 1.
With the state subsidy applied, the price of one cubic metre of natural gas used for cooking will increase by 27.5 percent to 1.02 euros, including VAT.
Households using natural gas for heating (up to 20,000 cubic metres per year) will see the price go up 40 percent to 77 euro cents. Meanwhile, households using more than 20,000 cubic metres of gas per year will have to pay 41.5 percent more or 75 euro cents.
Without the state subsidy, first group households would have paid 1.56 euros as of July (96 percent more than now), those in the second group would have paid 1.31 euros (2.4 times more), and those in the third group would have paid 1.29 euros (2.45 times more).
According to VERT, the gas price increase was influenced by price changes on the European gas exchanges.
Due to the Russian aggression in Ukraine and energy pressure, the price of natural gas on the exchange is forecast to reach 90-100 euros per MWh, excluding VAT, in the second half of the year, compared to the average market price of under 25 euros per MWh in 2016-2020.
On Monday, the Lithuanian government decided to reimburse up to 54 euro cents of the price the households pay for natural gas. This subsidy per cubic metre will be paid from July to the end of December.
The subsidy is estimated to cost the state budget around 53 million euros, including VAT. The Lithuanian parliament Seimas has already allocated 570 million euros to subsidise electricity and gas prices this year.
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