The energy crisis requires targeted solutions instead of general measures that can lead to discriminatory treatment among the population, but also between operators found in the energy value chain, says AHK Romania, which asks the government to “consider refining the measures in GEO no.118 / 2021,” in accordance with its proposals and without delay.
“In addition to direct financial support for the population and SMEs, measures are needed to reduce energy vulnerability and ensure the economic competitiveness of the industry through energy efficiency policies. A number of European funds are also available for this purpose. Therefore, we believe that the Romanian authorities should give priority to public policies regarding energy efficiency measures, in parallel with a medium and long-term investment strategy to facilitate the development of new production capacities,” say AHK Romania officials.
On February 1, about 3 months have passed since the promotion of the so-called “Winter Package” by the Romanian Government, by GEO no. 118/2021, in order to mitigate the effects of the energy crisis. However, AHK Romania wishes to emphasize that the draft law sent for enactment raises major concerns, both for energy producers and for network operators and energy suppliers, preventing the energy industry from operating in a predictable market, respectively, in free market conditions.
More precisely, from the point of view of AHK, the following principles established in GEO no. 118/2021 are problematic:
- At the level of the European Union, energy vulnerability is recognized as a social problem and not explicitly a problem related to the private sector or the energy industry, therefore it should be managed primarily by the authorities;
- In addition, GEO no. 118/2021 requires impressive financial resources that private companies are unfairly obliged to support from their own budget, without having a clear prospect of cost recovery;
- Regarding energy networks, this category of economic operators was excluded from the support scheme, despite the fact that it was also affected by the energy crisis, being forced to purchase energy to cover network losses at an unprecedented price level from the wholesale market;
- With regard to the energy production sector, we consider that the draft law leads to a clear discrimination between fossil fuel electricity producers and electricity producers, by applying a Windfall tax only to the last mentioned category;
- In addition, despite the fact that an exceptional tax should only consider the withholding of exceptional profits, the provisions of GEO no. 118/2021 relate to total revenues, thus generating significant concerns about the coverage of production costs;
The measures imposed by the Winter Package over the last three months have had a strong impact on the energy and gas supply sector.
Given that in recent months, more than 60,000 natural gas final customers have been taken over by FUI (suppliers of last resort) and three-quarters of natural gas suppliers have requested the withdrawal / suspension of licenses, AHK would like to point out that any measures protection measures to be taken by public authorities through legislative initiatives should primarily respect the principles of predictability and transparency.
Legislation aimed at addressing energy vulnerability should also be clearly worded and should not allow time intervals between the time of promotion and the time of adoption of secondary legislation detailing the implementation procedures.
“Regarding the issues mentioned above, we urgently request the authorities to consider refining the measures in GEO no. 118/2021, in accordance with the proposals of AHK. We believe that delaying the adoption of timely corrective measures can lead to insolvency or even bankruptcy for certain categories of market participants, an invariable outcome related to the failure of market mechanisms and, ultimately, to problems with security of supply of the end consumers.
”Last but not least, we believe that the current situation of high energy prices will probably accompany us for a longer period of time and that is why we need more than ever close cooperation between the public and private sectors to find the best good long-term solutions for the Romanian population and for the economic environment,” AHK Romania officials also said.
