In the context of the liberalization of the gas market for household consumers, the Competition Council points out that, both at wholesale and retail level (household customer), there must be a normal competitive environment so that prices can be formed freely on demand and supply, given that there are only two large domestic producers, and two large suppliers provide about 90% of household consumption.

As a result, large economic operators must act responsibly in relation to both their smaller competitors and customers and not abuse the dominant position or enter into anti-competitive agreements.

At the same time, it is very important for the evolution of competitive markets that at the intrernal source both suppliers (larger and smaller) and consumers who (through the quantities consumed and the technical parameters of operation) have the potential to get access to this source.

“We want the liberalization process to provide household customers with the conditions to change their gas supply contracts so as to obtain the best price and the best associated services. Consumers must have confidence that they can freely change the supplier, without interference from the current supplier of the distribution system operator. In this way, consumers can generate a competitive pressure that can be transmitted on the production-supply chain and can determine the obtaining of more favorable contractual conditions,” said Bogdan Chirițoiu, the President of the Competition Council.

“In the next period we will collaborate with the competent authorities – the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) and the National Authority for Consumer Protection (ANPC), but also the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Business Environment – to improve consumer access to relevant information so that they can make an informed decision to contract natural gas, but also to prevent possible actions to block the migration of customers; at the same time, we will discuss with the natural gas suppliers in order to identify possible barriers in terms of increasing the degree of competition in the market,” said the President of the Competition Council.

The competition authority will continue its monitoring actions and will intervene by using all the legal instruments at its disposal (mainly by investigating cases of abuse of a dominant position and anti-competitive agreements).

At the level of the internal gas market, the competitive mechanisms have been manifested mainly since 2015, both at the wholesale level and at the level of the retail market (at the level of non-household consumers). The stage of July 1, 2020 marks the beginning of the transition of about 3.4 million domestic customers from the regulated market for natural gas supply to the competitive one.