Bogdan Tudorache

ANRE approved on Wednesday the new Regulation on the supply of last resort of natural gas, which establishes the procedure for designating by the ANRE of the suppliers of last resort, the conditions for carrying out and ceasing the activity of last resort, the principles of pricing applied by to suppliers of last resort to the customers taken over, as well as the procedure for taking over the places of consumption of the final customers who have not ensured their supply of natural gas from any other source.

“In order to ensure the supply of last resort to final customers who end up in the situation of not having the supply of natural gas from any other source, ANRE will designate a number of at least 3 suppliers of last resort (FUIs), by organizing a process of selection within a maximum of 10 working days from the date of entry into force of this Regulation,” it is shown in the release of the institution.

All natural gas suppliers, which meet the eligibility criteria established by the Regulation, have the possibility to carry out the activity of natural gas supply as a last resort.

The designated FUI suppliers have the obligation to publish, in the dedicated section on their website, the prices for the supply of natural gas in the last resort regime, including the values of its components, as well as the frame Contract for the supply of natural gas in the last resort regime.

At the same time, the final customers in question will be informed by the FUI about the takeover, thus creating the possibility for them to look, in the shortest possible time, for another supplier with whom to conclude a contract related to the supply of natural gas in a competitive regime.

If the final customer does not find a supplier on the competitive market at some point, the customer in question will be temporarily taken over, at his request, by a FUI freely chosen by the customer, from those designated by ANRE.

Thus, final customers are protected by ensuring the supply of natural gas as a last resort, under the conditions established by the Regulation and, at the same time, promoting and ensuring competition between natural gas suppliers to be designated FUI and to ensure customers taken over supply of natural gas as a last resort.