The regulatory committee of the Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) will discuss next week the modification of the definition of long-term contracts, ANRE vice president Zoltan Nagy-Bege announced. “We will define them as contracts equal or longer than a month,” said Zoltan Nagy-Bege, at the 8th edition of the “Spring Cocktail” conference, organized by Energynomics.

“We have already taken some steps toward bilateral contracts on the market. Last year we approved some regulations in this direction, applying European regulations, of course, Regulation 943. Next week, we will discuss in the Regulatory Board of the ANRE the proposal to change the definition of long-term contracts”, said Zoltan Nagy-Bege, stating that the change is based on discussions with market representatives and the European Commission’s request.

Zoltan Nagy-Bege also referred to ANRE priorities in the coming period. These include strengthening the process of liberalization of the electricity market, but also ensuring the implementation of a new regulation making it mandatory that consumers are connected to the power grid free of charge. The ANRE vice president mentioned this was a challenge for grid operators, but also the regulator, as they would have to integrate all costs and investments into network tariffs. Last but not least, the free connection is also a challenge for distributors, who will have to find solutions to finance new investments.

As for connecting prosumers to networks, the ANRE official mentioned the trend was increasing.

In February, ANRE launched in public debate a draft order on the modification of the Authority’s order 65/2020, to clarify that “long-term supply contract means any contract with a delivery period of one month or more”. The Association of electricity suppliers in Romania (AFEER) welcomed the ANRE initiative: “It is an important step forward […] I am convinced that, with the development of the internal market, its increased flexibility and liquidity, ANRE will continue, as soon as possible, to update the domestic legislation so that it reflects exactly the European one,” said Ion Lungu, president of AFEER.

This conference “Spring Cocktail 2021” was organized by Energynomics, with the support of our partners: AON România, Automobile Bavaria, Electrica Furnizare, Hidroelectrica, ING Bank România, OMV Petrom, PeWeTe, Photomate, Siemens.

Nearly 250 people joined the MyConnector platform to watch the LIVE event and the speeches.