[ad_1]
The National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) extended until March 31, 2021 the period in which domestic consumers can enter into energy supply contracts in the competitive market, representatives of the institution told Agerpres on Monday.
The announcement comes under the conditions in which the electricity market has been fully liberalized as of January 1, 2021, which means that Romanians no longer pay the prices set by the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE), rather, they must compare and choose the offer that suits them best from the free market.
Liberalization means that prices will no longer be regulated and suppliers will buy the full amount of energy on the stock market.
In this context, the six million consumers that remain in the regulated market have two possibilities: or they do nothing, they keep the old contracts and automatically pay the prices of the so-called “universal service”, which will be 13-26% more. high, or enter into other contracts in the free (competitive) market.
The moment took most consumers by surprise. A survey by the Smart Energy Association showed that at the beginning of December, more than 90% of household electricity consumers were unaware that the market would be liberalized as of January 1.
Consumer Recommendations
In this context, the specialists recommended that consumers renounce the contracts they currently have and that they will bring them higher bills and look for offers in the free market with better prices and conditions. They can keep their provider or choose another licensed one.
The Minister of Energy, Virgil Popescu, recommends the same. “People should look at ANRE’s website, in the price comparison, and choose the best offer,” Virgil Popescu said. However, he said he would ask the Competition Council to verify whether universal service prices were not artificially increasing.
In turn, Bogdan Chiriţoiu, president of the Competition Council, showed that it is very important that people enter into contracts in the competitive market, either with the current supplier or with another, in order to benefit from more advantageous conditions. He gave the example of gas bills, which decreased for those who signed new contracts, after the liberalization of the gas market on July 1, 2020.
First of all, consumers need to know if they are already in the competitive market, because this possibility has existed until now. If the invoice says “competitive market invoice”, they have nothing to do, because they are no longer in a position to automatically pay universal service prices and the liberalization of January 1 has no impact on their contract.
People also need to know that no one will be without power if they don’t sign new contracts. Also, they can change their contracts at any time.
Romania is the last country in the European Union that has not liberalized the electricity market so far. This was mandatory under European law, and Romania has requested several derogations over the years, being the last possible deadline to complete the process.
Editor: Luana Pavaluca
