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ANRE, a state institution that must be independent from market players, allows non-competitive practices through legislation.
Răzvan Nicolescu, an expert and former Energy Minister, believes that ANRE’s decisions could be considered state aid. “The proposed measure could be declared illegal from the perspective of European competition law and could be considered state aid for four providers or even an ANRE cartel and a market segmentation action.“wrote Răzvan Nicolescu on his Facebook account. He supports the idea of reorganizing ANRE and its integration into the Competition Council.”Another argument that ANRE should be integrated into the Competition Council. There must be a fair competitive environment between the furious and those who choose Hidroeléctrica, for example, should not be penalized.“Also wrote Răzvan Nicolescu.
The story of controversial ANRE orders
On December 23, 2020 ANRE issued Order 241 on some conditions for the supply of energy by providers of last resort. We remind you that this condition of last resort providers has ENEL, CEZ, Eléctrica, E.ON.
Because many domestic consumers did not know that liberalization was coming, a provision appears in the order that leaves the possibility to choose the applicable supply offer from January 1, 2021 until the end of January. However, in this order there is also a provision in art. 4, para. 4, which establishes that operators that also have the quality of providers of last resort compensate the amounts paid in addition to the universal service, in the period between January 1, 2021 and the moment in which the contract is concluded under a competitive regime . Specifically, the provider issues a regularization invoice.
This is because as of January 1, people who receive energy under the regulated regime are automatically transferred to suppliers of last resort, if they have not entered into a contract in the free market. Last resort providers will be obliged to pay for universal service, at a higher price than if they enter into a contract in the free market.
What does the ANRE Order do? It regulates the possibility that the provider of last resort has to issue this regularization invoice, covering the difference between the price of the universal service and the price in the competitive contract. Example: I am an ENEL client and until January 1, 2021 I was in a regulated regime. I have not entered into any free market contract with ENEL or any other supplier. Then I am automatically transferred to ENEL, as a provider of last resort, and I pay the sale price of the universal service, which is higher than in the free market. Much higher, in general, than the price offered by many other providers than the last resort. I was able to conclude a new contract only on January 31 with ENEL. According to the order, the company sends me within 90 days a regularization invoice to cover the difference between the price of the universal service and that of the January 31 contract, for the consumption made between January 1 and January 31 .
The condition for receiving this regularization invoice is the conclusion of a contract with who is now your provider of last resort. If you conclude a contract with another provider, you will no longer receive this regularization invoice, this being a provision that benefits the provider of last resort. A consumer who does not know that he can conclude contracts on the free market at much more advantageous prices, in the long run, will be attracted by the idea of receiving a regularization invoice, even for a difference of 3 lei. It should be noted that, in general, the prices in the free market offers of the operators that are also providers of last resort are quite high and not much lower than the prices of the universal service. The big difference is between the prices of universal service and the offers of those who are not providers of last resort.
On Monday, January 4, ANRE presents a draft Order that extends this term until March 31. That is, if I conclude a contract on March 31st, the provider of last resort will issue me a regularization invoice for the period from January 1 to March 31. The idea of receiving a regularization bill seems even more tempting for a captive consumer of large providers.
In fact, this Order has not yet been approved, just debating on the ANRE website that one of the main suppliers has sent a press release announcing to customers that they have until March 31 to choose the offer ”. according to your needs “and that they offer a discount for the period from January 1, 2021 to March 31, 2021.” If they present the CEZ offer signed before March 31, 2021, the supplier will issue a discount invoice for the period in which the price was applied. new Universal Service so that in the period
01.01.2021 – 31.03.2021 customers benefit from the negotiated price according to the recently signed contract ”, announces the last resort provider CEZ.
In other words, the ANRE order is a glove to the interests of the supplier of last resort, which can thus attract the customer with an apparently attractive discount. Apparently, because that discount can be much less than the difference between the price of the universal service and the offer of other providers in the free market.
The December order also stipulates that, if they so wish, suppliers that are not of last resort may request “a price reduction in the competitive offer that allows the customer to recover the difference in the price applied between January 1, 2021 and the date of entry into force of the competitive contract “. However, it is hard to believe that a provider that already has offers much lower than the last resort will offer a discount with the difference of the price of the universal service. In some cases it would be a difference of up to 10 lei for an average consumption of 100 MWh.
ANRE’s failure to manage the liberalization of the energy market
Everything that ANRE has done with respect to the liberalization of the energy market seems to have favored the suppliers of last resort, assuming that it did not inform domestic consumers until these requests.
This did not happen. On the contrary, he refused until the last days to communicate on this subject. In addition, it favored large providers by not requiring them to effectively inform customers that liberalization will take place and that those who do not enter into free market contracts will remain in universal service, at much higher prices. higher than those in the competitive area. Consumers who are now in a regulated regime have not been announced in advance that they will automatically switch to universal service, at prices up to 26% higher than in December, if they do not access the free market.
ANRE should have published recommendations for the domestic customer on its website and in the mass media, printed and distributed brochures long before the time of liberalization, which it did not do.
At the insistence of HotNews.ro and not only, ANRE agreed to publish, on December 15, on its own website, some recommendations for the domestic customer, although they were already elaborated a long time ago. ANRE did not announce in a press release that it had published these recommendations, but instead let each interested party find out for themselves.
Just a few days after the liberalization, the information explodes that as of January 1, the prices of universal service, offered by providers of last resort, that is, ENEL, CEZ, Eléctrica, E.ON, will increase massively , and those that failed to conclude. Free market contracts will pay much higher bills. Of course, ANRE did not send information related to the increase in prices for universal service. It did not warn consumers in any way that they would pay inflated bills from January if they did not quickly sign a contract in the free market.
Just one day before the end of the year, ANRE announced in a press release that in one day, the energy market will be completely liberalized and domestic consumers should enter into competitive contracts if they do not want to pay higher bills from January. Only then did ANRE report that Those who do not enter into contracts and remain in universal service will pay higher bills.
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