Poland Cuts PGNiG's Gas Tariffs for Firms by up to 5.1 pct

Poland's energy market regulator URE said on Friday it has decided to cut dominant gas distributor PGNiG's prices of high-methane gas for commercial end users by 5.1 percent and for wholesale customers by 4.7 percent.

The regulator said it was acting in response to low prices on world energy markets. It has not yet decided what to do with tariffs for retail customers, though the head of the regulator has said these could also be lowered.

URE also said it decided to cut tariffs for nitrogen-rich gas, which is of lower quality than high-methane gas, by 4.9 for commercial end users and 4.8 percent for wholesale customers.

The decisions will come into effect as of August. Since the beginning of the year prices fell by 15.2 and 9.2 percent respectively.

Poland has begun to liberalise its gas market to comply with European Union regulations, but URE continues to set the maximum price at which state-run distributor can supply gas.

(Reporting by Anna Koper)