“We have made a decision to offer our more than 360 thousand household customers the Universal Service as a market product, which has been developed in accordance with the new Cabinet Regulations, because it provides the customers with 3 major advantages – no contract renewal, fixed natural gas price for 6 months and a favourable natural gas price.” explains Aigars Kalvītis, chairman of the Board of Latvijas Gāze.

By staying with us, you do not have to do anything, the transition will happen automatically.

Existing Latvijas Gāze customers do not need to renew their contract. The transition to universal service will be automatic and from 1 May we will supply natural gas on the basis of the Energy Law within the framework of universal service:

• it is beneficial if natural gas is used for both cooking and heating, as the price will be differentiated (so the price will be adjusted depending on the customer's annual consumption);
• it is safe, as it provides for a fixed price of natural gas for 6 months, which will protect against price fluctuations and make it easier to plan expenses;
• it is without a contract termination fee.

We will announce the price of the universal service for the period 01.05.2023–31.10.2023 in the next few days after the entry into force of the new Cabinet Regulation.

“What we can already tell our customers is that the Universal Service natural gas price will be between 20 and 40 percent lower, depending on the user group, compared to the current regulated tariff. After a sharp increase in natural gas prices last August, the first three months of this year have been marked by a more favourable market situation and a significant drop in prices. We can now buy natural gas more cheaply, with the price on the Western European exchanges having fallen back to its pre-war price, due to the reduction in natural gas consumption as the summer season approaches and much higher than expected natural gas stocks in Europe. Therefore, to comply with certain European directives, less gas will have to be pumped, and demand for LNG will naturally decrease.” explains Aigars Kalvītis, chairman of the Board of Latvijas Gāze.

Figure 1. Natural gas price on the stock exchange, EUR/MWh

We will publish the natural gas price on our website www.lg.lv, and in the media, as well as individually to customers by sending information together with the invoice in May.

It is important to remember that after 1 May, the total price for natural gas will, as before, consist of five components (natural gas price, transmission charge – starting point, distribution charge (variable part and fixed charge), excise duty and value added tax – 21%) and the natural gas price will be the only component that will differ between traders.