Roughly 7 million households are likely to begin paying higher prices for electricity and natural gas, following price liberalization that’s to take effect next year. At most, 17 percent of the families impacted by the change are expected to quality for state aid, and even this help will gradually be eliminated. Until now, utility prices have been regulated by the National Energy Regulatory Authority in order to keep them at tolerable levels. However, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund have put pressure ont he government to liberalize prices on energy in order to bring them up to EU levels. All regulated prices for electricity paid by household consumers are to be eliminated in 2013-2017.
