Power supply in Moldova restored

CHISINAU. Nov 23 (Interfax) - Power supply in Moldova has been resumed, the Moldelectrica state company said on Wednesday.

Power supply in all of Moldova, including Transdniestria, was cut off at 2:27 p.m. on Wednesday. Trolleybus services were suspended, stores were closed, and mobile communications and the Internet operated intermittently. Power supply was resumed in less than an hour and a half.

"Several rural settlements still remain without electricity now. Company specialists are working on resuming power supply in full," Moldelectrica said.

The latest tentative reports show that the Isaccea-Vulcanesti-Moldovan (Cuciurgan) Power Plant high-voltage transmission line, via which electricity from Romania is supplied to the right bank of the Dniester River, stopped functioning.

In November, Gazprom is supplying Moldova with 5.7 million cubic meters of gas per day, while the country's daily need for gas is estimated at 11 million cubic meters. Because of the gas shortage experienced in November, the state company Eneregocom and the Moldovan (Cuciurgan) Power Plant (located in Transdniestria and belongs to UES Russia) were unable to reach an agreement on electricity supply to the right-bank part of Moldova. Starting November 1, Moldova has been buying the lacking amount of electricity (about 80%) from Romania, which is supplied via the Isaccea-Vulcanesti-Moldovan Power Plant power transmission line to the north of Moldova.