As adopted, the decision to cap energy prices does not stimulate competition and prudential procurement policies, signaled the executive director of ACUE, Daniela Dărăban, during the conference “Future of utilities”, organized by Energynomics. According to ACUE federation, the package of measures adopted will lead to the accumulation, in a discriminatory way, of significant costs for the companies of power and natural gas supply and distribution.
Daniela Dărăban invoked several problems for the implementation of the measures regarding the compensation of the electricity bills. “The compensation model adopted both for the household consumer and for the categories of non-household consumers generates unpredictability. The economic operators in the energy supply sector with enforcement responsibilities are in a real difficulty to determine in due time the amount and the way of implementation of the established facilities”, she specified. As a matter of fact, although the measure entered into force on 1 November, the implementing regulations have not yet been adopted on 9 November.
The mechanism for capping prices is also deficient and lacks any economic substantiation, Daniela Dărăban added “By imposing the same cap on all suppliers, the measure will generate inequity among, both the suppliers and the consumers, because the regulated tariffs in the final price component are different depending on the distribution operator, and the measure will lead to differentiated treatment between suppliers.”
Revenues from regulated tariffs are the main sources of financing for distribution and transport activities and, in the form adopted, no mechanism is provided for the recovery of these costs by operators, said Daniela Dărăban. “The accumulation of unsustainable losses affects the financial viability of each operator leading, in extreme cases, to their inability to pay and the loss of eligibility to access European funds for vital projects in the energy transition,” said Daniela Dărăban.
ACUE Representative also criticized that the “price competition was suspended, through capping, and all suppliers will sell electricity at the price of 1 lei kWh, respectively natural gas at the price of 0.37 lei kWh”. Moreover, some suppliers, “in this case those who have had a prudent procurement policy”, will have significant costs that will not be recognized.
Daniela Dărăban also referred to the over-taxation of the revenues of energy producers from renewable sources (mainly wind and solar), introduced through the package of measures by which the Bucharest authorities responded to the price crisis. “It is a contraindicated measure, without economic justification, and will most likely lead to financial losses for producers of renewable sources. This is happening, given that, in order to achieve its objectives, Romania must increase its production capacity from renewable sources”, the executive director of ACUE also said.
The ACUE Federation represents the most important groups in the field of electricity and natural gas, respectively CEZ Romania, E.ON Romania, Electrica SA, ENEL Romania, ENGIE Romania, Gaz Est, with a total number of over 24,000 employees and a total annual turnover of over 5.5 billion euros. The total value of investments made by ACUE members in the period 2005-2020 is approximately 11 billion euros.
The conference “Future of utilities – more, cheaper, safer” was organized by Energynomics, with the support of its partners: Automatica, CEZ Romania, Eaton Electric, Kawasaki Gas Turbine Europe GmbH, Schneider Electric, Transelectrica.