ANRE: Changing supplier - the solution for a fair price for natural gas

Consumers who will accept high offers will pay unnecessarily and those who choose not to change suppliers will remain captive, said George Niculescu, president of the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE), to Digi24, regarding the reliberalization of the natural gas market starting with April 1, 2026. The head of ANRE stated that in the official comparator there are already offers below the capped price imposed by the state, including tariffs of 0.30 lei/kWh (kilowatt-hour), lower than the threshold of 0.31 lei established by ordinance. However, offers have also appeared on the market that go up to 0.41-0.42 lei/kWh, meaning price increases between 4% and 32% compared to the levels at the beginning of the year. For George Niculescu, these tariffs are not only unjustified, but simply unserious.

George Niculescu stated: "In the ANRE price comparator, there are currently active offers for the supply of natural gas after April 1, of 0.30 lei, therefore below the ceiling price that was established by the emergency ordinance. Therefore, there is at least one offer below the capped price. A supplier that comes with an offer of 0.42 lei per kilowatt-hour for natural gas, after the capped price was established at 0.31 lei and there are offers of 0.30 in the market, is a supplier that no longer wants to carry out the supply activity. I convey very clearly to these suppliers that they can come to the institution and request the suspension of the license, because these are frivolous offers put on the market." Basically, the head of ANRE urges consumers, in the event of tariff increases by suppliers, to change their supplier, free of charge, as has already happened on the electricity market. The signal sent by George Niculescu is clear: "a market for consumers, not for the smart guys in energy” is emerging. The exact same scenario has already been seen in electricity, where suppliers aligned around a high price, only for competition to subsequently push offers below one leu per kilowatt-hour. ANRE expects the mechanism to be repeated in gas, with one essential condition: consumers to be active, informed and willing to change supplier.

The authority has already imposed the obligation for all suppliers to notify their customers by March 2, 2026, regarding the price in the contract, the rights they have and the procedure for changing supplier. The reason is simple and inconvenient: many Romanians no longer even know what price they have in the contracts signed two years ago, amid the capping. After April 1, this ignorance can quickly turn into a serious financial loss. Changing supplier is free, without penalties and without administrative traps, and the experience from 2025 shows that mass switching is possible: approximately 650,000 consumption places have been transferred to electricity, with peaks of 100,000 changes in a single month.

However, the real impact of price differences is only seen when the figures are put on the bill. A few extra pennies per kilowatt-hour (kWh), seemingly insignificant, are applied to an annual consumption of tens of thousands of kWh. For a two-room apartment, with an estimated consumption of 15,000 kWh per year, the cost can jump from approximately 4,650 lei to over 6,150 lei annually, depending on the offer chosen. For a house, with a consumption of about 30,000 kWh, the bill can go up from 9,300 lei to over 12,300 lei per year. Practically, a difference of between 1 and 10 bani per kWh translates into 150 to 1,500 lei more annually for an apartment and between 300 and 3,000 lei for a house, to which higher VAT is automatically added.

We recall that, regarding the reliberalization of the natural gas market, Bogdan Ivan, the Minister of Energy, declared on January 11 that he does not rule out, in the event of excessively high prices in the market, a gradual elimination of the current cap. Bogdan Ivan told Digi 24 at the time: "In the unlikely event that there will be disruptions on the international market, on the regional gas market, we have prepared the alternative in which we will have a gradual reduction of this ceiling for one year, until 2027, to protect individuals and companies from a sudden increase in the price of natural gas. In the worst case, we will have a one-year extension with a gradual reduction of this ceiling, but normally today we have offers below the capped price and I want to maintain this trend in a transparent and clear form with the entire market.”

It remains to be seen whether, from April 1, 2026, we will return to a free market in terms of natural gas, or whether, due to too high prices, the reliberalization will be done in stages.