The natural gas market will be completely liberalized on April 1, 2021, and that of electricity on July 1, 2021, and regulated prices will be eliminated even to domestic consumers, in order to compete in the market, said Zoltan Nagy-Bege, Vice-President of the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE).

“There will be a complete liberalization on April 1, 2021 on gas and on July 1, 2021 on electricity, both on the wholesale market and on the retail market, meaning also to the final consumers,” said the official, according to Agerpres.

According to him, the measure was approved by all market participants, as well as by the European Commission. “There is no point in keeping the regulated market in the retail segment, if the wholesale market is liberalized. We discussed with all market players and the European Commission and everyone agreed that it is not a healthy approach to keep regulated prices at domestic end consumers, if you have a free wholesale market. All the time you will have to deal with differences, pluses and minuses, which have to be regulated and which influence the competition. The aim is to have competition, and the big and small suppliers to compete in the market, which can only be achieved under the conditions of a fully liberalized market,” Bege explained.