[ad_1]
The government will amend the electricity and gas law after January 15 and clearly establish what energy providers must do with the 6 million domestic customers that were still in the regulated market on December 31. Energy Minister Virgil Popescu told Digi24 that in creating a competitive market, the customer must be at the center of the problem, not the supplier.
“I do not put 6 million people on the road to change their contracts in a month, two or a certain time, but I force suppliers to offer the best energy prices, so that the consumer benefits from the best.” It is about thinking, in the initial conception of this market design, now we are creating a competitive market, we are thinking about it, well, if we think about it and make it a market design, then we start from the premise that we have this customer not the vendor, ”Virgil Popescu stated on Digi24.
“On Thursday we had a meeting in the Competition Council, together with ANRE, and we agreed on this principle: Yes, there is this more expensive universal service, but it is an exception, not a rule, as ANRE did. Man must consciously benefit from this transition from the best offer that his supplier has in the market, that is the principle ”, he added.
Virgil Popescu also gave an example in this regard, saying that until the consumer looks for and decides which is the best option for him, the current supplier has the duty to propose the best offer he has in the market. .
“The provider has to say: if you want to stay with me, you have this offer, if you don’t want to stay, you can leave. If you don’t move in the meantime, you have this offer. That’s the way to do it, not to go looking. I have time to look, but until I find it, to have the best offer from my supplier, not the most expensive, this is the principle in which I agreed with ANRE and the Competition Council, the principle is competitive, having the best commercial price for the supplier With which I already have a contract for a period of time, during this time, say 6 months, my supplier must inform me of all their offers, but others can come to me with their offers. I can stay or I can go, “he explained also the Minister of Energy.
Consumers will always have to decide which offer is right for them.
“After I change, probably this week, there is no rush to change contracts. Because nobody keeps me at a more expensive universal service price, but I benefit from my current provider of the best offer and then I have all the time, six months, ten months, to think about until a better offer comes in. And this is where the regulator will come in, because the customer definitely needs to have a contract. We can use the universal service contract, but in this contract the man will not pay the price of the universal service, but in the end, month by month, it will pay competitively, ”added Popescu.
Currently, domestic customers who do not choose, that is, who do not opt for a competitive offer from the current supplier or one from another supplier, will have higher bills even by 14 lei, with an average monthly consumption of 100 kWh. Virgil Popescu asked ANRE to solve this problem.
Editing: Alexandra Andronie
