Factura la curent îþi stinge lumina ochilor. Ilustraþie de MAKE

With the return of the electricity market in our country to free market status, with the termination of the cap-compensation scheme on July 1, consumers will directly feel the market variations, and for many of them, the energy bill could become a considerable burden.

The authorities say that the market must return to a competitive regime, but specialists warn that the lack of a clear transition and protective measures for vulnerable categories can lead to social and economic imbalances. In this context, Romanians are wondering how much they will end up paying for electricity in the coming months and what options they have to reduce their costs.

Without the cap imposed by the state, electricity prices will be freely set by suppliers, depending on demand, supply and production or acquisition costs. Current estimates indicate that for some consumers, the bill could increase by 10% to 80%, depending on the existing contract, monthly consumption and the chosen supplier.

Although some suppliers have announced that they will maintain competitive prices to retain their customers, others could quickly adjust tariffs, especially in the context of possible increases in costs on the wholesale market. In the absence of a cap, consumers must be more attentive than ever to contractual conditions and compare the offers available in the free market, on the platform provided by ANRE.

• George Niculescu, President of ANRE: "If suppliers try to deceive consumers, they will be sanctioned”

Regarding the impact of the return of the electricity market to free market status on household consumers, George Niculescu, President of ANRE, stated to Digi 24 that the public institution will drastically sanction suppliers who deceive customers.

George Niculescu stated: "Regarding prices, we have started an analysis to see why some suppliers have grouped around 1.5 lei/kw, while one supplier has a price of 1 leu/kw. In the meantime, we have found that several suppliers have started making consumer retention offers to preserve their customer portfolio and have come up with better offers. I think that the offers should be advantageous, competitive from the customer's point of view, so that other customers from other companies come to the respective suppliers, thus encouraging migration or porting from one supplier to another and not offers only for customers in the portfolio. At the moment there are thousands of portings daily and there is a risk that some suppliers, with high prices, will be left without a customer portfolio. I do not think that we need to turn off the lights in every room from July 1, but to choose a supplier with a fair price, competitive for our needs, which can help us have comfort in our home at a fair price. I guarantee that if suppliers try to deceive consumers, they will be sanctioned. We did not hesitate to apply sanctions in other situations. It is natural that ANRE, when consumers are deceived, should notice the slippages and sanction them”.

The ANRE President also showed that, before the expiry of the electricity capping-compensation scheme on July 1, the public institution obliged suppliers to send consumers information regarding the price they would have to pay and monitored how the information was provided.

George Niculescu said: "Unfortunately, we found that a supplier failed to inform customers and, for this reason, 1.1 million consumption places did not receive that information. Therefore, I am sounding the alarm and asking suppliers to respect their obligations to inform and offer consumers. Those who violate the rules and regulations will be sanctioned upon completion of the verification action”.

Regarding the support provided by the state to the 3.7 million vulnerable consumers, the ANRE president mentioned that a budget envelope will be calculated, and the energy voucher granted will have a value allowed by the current state budget.

• Silvia Vlăsceanu, HENRO: "The price of electricity is too high because we had too few production capacities in the grid”

The current price of electricity existing in the market is too high because the national energy system has too few production capacities in the grid of electricity, Silvia Vlăsceanu, executive director of the Association of Electricity Producers - HENRO, stated for the BURSA newspaper.

Silvia Vlăsceanu said: "The price is given by the competition existing in the market, and this competition can only be in the production sector and in the supply sector. In the production area, we are now seeing the disadvantages of the reorganization of the Romanian energy sector that began in the 2000s, when the respective sector was separated, by technology, in the supply area competition must exist and be as widespread as possible, and from ANRE data we find that there are economic operators who want to obtain a license to supply electricity and natural gas every week. From this point of view, we will see what happens. Although at first the price offers are not the most attractive, we can already see that, as July 1 approaches, and under the impact of the increased interest shown by consumers to change their energy suppliers, through the easy support of the platform created by ANRE, some suppliers have started to present lower price offers for customers in their portfolio. The capping-compensation scheme applied in the last three years has proven that the cap of 0.68 lei/kw has put the greatest pressure on the state budget and on companies, because it was not a fair price that would cover the real price of electricity. We cannot say what the best price is, but it is dictated by the free market, which determines its value according to supply and demand. Perhaps at this moment it is too high because we had too little production of electricity in the band, which provides stability to the electro-energy system and security of supply to consumers, as well as continuity in supply, while respecting the quality parameters of the electric current. That is why it is very important to have production capacities in the band, which produce enough electricity so as to put pressure on the price. The greater the supply we have, the lower the price will be”.

Mrs. Vlăsceanu showed that the increase in supply was also the main reason that the companies that built photovoltaic and wind parks invoked in the need to make the respective investments, but in reality this did not happen at the desired pace, even though the pressure for the construction of renewables remained high.

The executive director of HENRO specified: "We believe that the pace must be balanced; that is, we invest in renewables, but we must not affect the stability and security of the national energy system and that is why new capacities for producing energy in the band are needed: hydro, gas, nuclear and coal. After all, coal has been the engine of the economy for the last 200 years, and we have reduced our emissions well below the target we have for 2030. Unfortunately, this reduction also took place through the reduction of activity in the mining industry. Fortunately, there are investments in the field of producing energy in the band, but unfortunately the time required to create and put into operation such an energy group - for example, on natural gas or nuclear - is much longer than that in which a photovoltaic or wind park is inaugurated. Added to this is the fact that the pressure on equipment suppliers is very high on wind and photovoltaic, because all of Europe is focused on production capacities in these sectors”.

Silvia Vlăsceanu also said that perhaps it would be appropriate, after so many years in which the entire European energy market operated on the principle of marginal price because there were only classic energy sources in the band - coal, natural gas, hydro and nuclear -, to rethink at European level the method of price formation on the electricity market.

• Laurenţiu Urluescu, president of AFEER: "For household consumers who had a ceiling of 0.68 lei/kw, the price would increase by a maximum of 80%”

The increase in electricity prices from July 1 will be felt mainly by household consumers who have so far paid only 0.68 lei/kw, told us Laurenţiu Urluescu, president of the Romanian Energy Suppliers Association (AFEER).

Laurenţiu Urluescu stated: "Regarding the price that the household consumer will pay from July 1, the effect for each one will depend on the ceiling they had previously. There are three price ceilings: 0.68 lei/kw; 0.8 lei/kw and 1.3 lei/kw. Current market prices are between 1.1 lei and 1.5 lei/kw. Naturally, for those who now pay 0.68 lei/kw there will be an increase of between 65% and 80% of the energy bill. But we should keep in mind that in the ceiling of 0.68 lei/lw, only taxes and tariffs plus other contributions represent 0.67 lei. Basically, the energy paid by the respective consumer is only 0.01 lei/kw, that is, a penny, which means that they receive energy almost for free, which is inconceivable. Naturally, when they no longer receive energy almost for free and have to buy it, it will cost more. Therefore, for this type of consumer, the electricity bill will increase substantially. For those who pay at the ceiling of 1.3 lei/kw, the increase will not be large, and for some of them their bill may even decrease depending on the contracts they have with the energy supplier. For industrial energy consumers, I do not expect there to be an increase of the energy price, because they, at the ceiling of 1.3 lei/kw, due to lower distribution taxes, had a lower bill. Then consumers can change their supplier, if they do not like the price, but do not forget that not only this is important in supply, but also the quality of the service offered”.

The President of AFEER also told us that the long-term price capping had three negative effects.

Laurenţiu Urluescu showed: "The first was the lack of appetite for investments in electricity production, and because of this we ended up importing energy at prices that are above the prices in the other states in this region of Europe. If the states surrounding Romania started to put new production capacities into operation starting 3-4 years ago, here there was stagnation, only recently things started to move a little. The second effect is the decrease in competition towards consumers. There are fewer suppliers that have offers to consumers compared to the beginning of the capping-compensation scheme. We are talking about a 40-45% decrease in the number of energy suppliers in our country. And the less competition there is, the less interest there is in improving the services offered. That is, in any market, high competition ensures the best possible price and the best possible services. The third effect is the consumer's lack of appetite to save energy, to reduce their consumption by increasing energy efficiency, which is worrying".

He also showed that the capping-compensation scheme was practically supported by energy suppliers, as long as, although according to the law the state must settle the price difference between the supplier's purchase price and the market price, the last settlement month covered by the state is January 2024 and not even that in full, but only 90% of the amounts requested for the invoices issued in that month. This delay in settlement of one year and six months led to the suppliers not collecting over 5 billion lei, concluded the president of AFEER.