The National Electricity Regulating Commission (NERC) raised residential gas tariffs from USD 0.033 – USD 0.035 to USD 0.041 – USD 0.045 per 1 cm. The price hike will take effect on Jan 1, 2006. The NERC also set gas tariffs for government sponsored organizations at USD 57.03 per 1,000 cm, up 25%. Concorde Capital: The across-the-board increase in gas tariffs will come even earlier than we expected. Previously, we anticipated that gas prices for households would only be raised after the parliamentary elections this spring. Earlier, the NERC imposed an 11% hike on gas tariffs for industrial consumers which will take effect in 2006. The fact that price increase for households and budget organizations is higher than that for industrial consumers supports our argument that the government will re-balance gas tariffs to eliminate cross-subsidization of residential and government sponsored consumers by industrial enterprises.