Eesti Gaas to Raise Home Natural Gas Rates by 15% in January

Eesti Gaas AS, the Estonian gas monopoly, said it will raise natural gas rates for households by 15 percent from January because of higher global gas and oil prices and the debt crisis in Europe.

The rate for the largest group of household clients, who consume as much as 100,000 cubic meters of gas per year, will rise to 40 euro cents per cubic meter, including VAT, from 35 cents, the company said in a statement on its website.

Eesti Gaas, whose biggest owner and only supplier is Russia’s OAO Gazprom, said its contract with Gazprom is based on heavy fuel oil prices that have risen substantially from an average $514 per ton last January.

A weaker euro-dollar exchange rate because of the euro area sovereign debt crisis is also negatively affecting purchase prices, the company said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ott Ummelas in Tallinn at oummelas@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net