Electricity bills would be reduced by 10-15%, on average, if green certificates and cogeneration contributions were paid from the state budget, not by consumers, said, on Wednesday, Dumitru Chiriță, president of the National Regulatory Authority in Energy (ANRE), in the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into Energy Prices.

Currently, all electricity consumers pay, separately from the energy price, green certificates (for renewable energy production) and the contribution of high efficiency cogeneration.

“We have considered the temporary removal of green certificates and the cogeneration contribution from invoices. We could do this for a period of six months, for example, to see how the market works,” Chiriță said, according to Agerpres.

According to the president of ANRE, the costs with the green certificates and the cogeneration contribution would be ensured from the state budget, in this period of six months, and ANRE made calculations as to what this would mean.

“At an average annual consumption of 50 TWh, at national level, the budgetary effort to support green certificates would be of 3.2 billion lei per year, and, for the cogeneration contribution, of one billion lei. So, in total 4.2 billion lei for a year. If we do this for half a year, it is of 2.1 billion lei”, Chiriţă explained.

For a home consumer, this would mean a 10-15% drop in the bill, on average, he added.

Chiriţă also said, within the Commission of Inquiry, that ANRE expected prices to increase after liberalization, but not at the level they have reached now. However, European regulations prohibit any state authority from interfering in price formation.

The Romanian electricity market was completely liberalized on January 1, 2021, and the natural gas market on July 1, 2020.