MOSCOW, March 22 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprom proposes rejecting regulation of prices of gas for industrial consumers starting from next year, chairman of the board Alexei Miller has said.
"We propose to use, beginning in 2006, market methods for fixing prices of gas supply to industrial consumers and preserve regulated gas prices for only the housing and utilities economy, budget-sector consumers and the population", the Gazprom press service cites Miller as saying.
"At the present time, natural gas is the only primary source of energy whose price is regulated from the historic values, rather then by real demand and supply", the Gazprom CEO said.
As a result, the gas sector has for a long time been a formidable financial donor for actually every economic sector, including very profitable and export-oriented consumers, providing them with low-cost gas, Miller said.
