Water is getting more expensive in Ungheni. On Tuesday, 7 July, the board of the National Energy Regulatory Agency (ANRE) approved new tariffs for “Apă-Canal Ungheni” SRL: drinking water rises from 23.54 to 25.17 lei per cubic metre, and sewerage and treatment for household consumers from 14.71 to 14.84 lei/m³. Together, a cubic metre of water and sewerage will cost households 40.01 lei, up from 38.25 before: 1.76 lei more, an increase of almost 4.6%.
The decision comes just eleven days after the local administration had given assurances to the contrary. On 26 June, the Ungheni Municipal Council adopted an official position to keep the tariff at 38.25 lei and announced that the operator, wholly owned by the municipality, had “dropped” a 4.52-lei/m³ increase it had calculated for 2026. ANRE’s documents, however, show a more nuanced picture: the operator’s request for an increase remained under review at the agency, which did not reject it but reduced it.
From “dropping it” to an approved increase
According to the explanatory note published by ANRE, “Apă-Canal Ungheni” formally requested new tariffs by letter no. 60 of 28 May 2026 — drinking water at an average price of 26.85 lei/m³ and sewerage at 16.32 lei/m³. Against the level at the time, the request meant, in total, about 4.52 lei/m³ more — exactly the increase the city hall described in June as abandoned.
That file was not stopped, however. ANRE examined it and trimmed it: the agency set a regulated revenue of about 43.07 million lei for the operator’s services, nearly 2.95 million lei less than the company had asked for. From the calculation, the agency says, it excluded costs “that were not confirmed or that are not strictly necessary” — part of the staff costs, of the materials and maintenance costs, a recalculation of electricity consumption at the permitted losses and 2026 prices, and of the water-abstraction charge. The result: instead of plus 4.52 lei, an increase of 1.76 lei/m³ for the household consumer.
An important detail for understanding the decision: in Ungheni, as everywhere in the country, the water tariff is set not by a local council vote but by ANRE, on the basis of the operator’s cost file and according to the agency’s own methodology, within the framework of Law no. 303/2013. The maintenance position adopted by the councillors on 26 June was a request addressed to the agency — which ANRE’s reasoning document does not even mention. It remains to be clarified whether the operator formally withdrew its 28 May request at some point and filed a smaller one, or whether it was the same request that ANRE reduced.
What it means on the bill
The difference of 1.76 lei per cubic metre seems small, but it adds up month by month, depending on consumption. For a household using 5 cubic metres a month, the increase means roughly 8.8 lei more per month — about 106 lei a year. At 10 cubic metres, the difference rises to some 17.6 lei a month, that is more than 210 lei a year. These are indicative figures, obtained by simply multiplying the rise by the volume consumed; the actual bill depends on each household’s consumption.
Most of the increase comes from drinking water, which rises by 1.63 lei/m³ (+6.9%). The household sewerage tariff rises only symbolically, by 13 bani per cubic metre.
The increase reaches not only the municipality but also the district localities connected to the operator’s network. Besides the town, “Apă-Canal Ungheni” serves villages such as Valea Mare, Buzduganii de Jos, Zagarancea and Semeni — hooked up in recent years to water and sewerage systems, some through projects supported by the European Union and UNDP.
Ungheni, in the package of increases, but still among the cheapest
Tuesday’s decision did not concern Ungheni alone. According to ANRE’s statement, at the same session the agency approved costs and tariffs for six operators in the water and gas sectors. Water is also going up for household consumers in Drochia — where it reaches 25.62 lei/m³ — and in Cantemir, where water rises to 24.58 lei/m³.
Even with the new price, Ungheni remains among the district towns with the lowest water and sewerage tariffs. At 40.01 lei/m³, it edges above Cahul but stays well below Fălești, Nisporeni or Glodeni, where a cubic metre costs almost twice as much — and, at Glodeni, even more; the comparison, though, places side by side tariffs approved by ANRE in different years. The pressure to raise the price does not disappear, however: the operator is running an investment programme for 2026 — networks, meters, upgrading the station that treats water drawn from the Prut — previously estimated at around 30 million lei, which is recovered over time through the tariff all the same.
What comes next
For now, ANRE has announced the decision, but the new tariff applies in practice only from the moment the decision is published in the Official Gazette — which, as of this article, had not yet appeared. Until then, the exact number of the decision and the date from which consumers start paying more remain unconfirmed.
For many Ungheni residents, the contrast between the announcement of a few days ago and Tuesday’s decision was immediately visible. “In June they cheered us that ‘it won’t go up’, and today… they changed their minds”, one resident of the town summed up publicly, under one of the posts about the new tariffs. The difference lies largely in who decides: the local administration can ask, but the price of water is set, in the end, by ANRE.