Margus Kaasik, the chair of the management board of Eesti Gaas said that household gas prices are based on the costs of gas purchased at gas exchanges.

"Recently, gas prices have been steadily increasing, occasionally reaching €330 per megawatt-hour. There is currently a tinge of optimism in the air as the price has been dropping for a few days, but it is unclear whether this trend will continue," Kaasik said.

In September, the home package price hiked to €2.65 per cubic meter, up from €0.48 per cubic meter at the beginning of last year.

In the spring of 2021 gas prices on European markets were around €20 per megawatt-hour, but in the second-to-last week of August they reached a new high of €339 per megawatt-hour.

Analysts expect prices to rise again in the autumn due to Gazprom's activities.

"The gas market remains uncertain and volatile, making forecasting difficult. From the standpoint of European supply security, we believe that the market price is more volatile than is warranted," Kaasik said.

"The situation varies from country to country, but the winter stockpile has amassed very well. We can only hope that the market will eventually calm down, that the price of gas will no longer be driven by emotions and that it will stay at a more reasonable level," he said.

One cubic meter of natural gas can produce 10.66 kilowatt-hour of energy, according to Elering's July data. This means that Eesti Gaas is offering gas to domestic consumers at a price of around €385 per megawatt-hour.

Eesti Gaas announced in July that it has stockpiled two terawatt-hours of natural gas.

However, Kaasik told ERR on Thursday that although the price per megawatt-hour was at about €150 in the summer, the price in their contract was linked to the price at the time of resale, i.e. October-November, so the gas they bought in was not that cheap for them.

"We certainly did not purchase gas for €1.5 (per cubic meter - ed.) and resell it for €4," Kaasik emphasized.

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