The energy suppliers are not lobbying for an early exit from the price cap scheme, but they are asking for payments to be made on time, as the gaps can no longer be covered by financing, possibly bank loans, said on Tuesday at a meeting with the press, the executive director of the Federation of Associations of Energy Utility Companies, Daniela Dărăban, according to Agerpres.

“We, at the level of suppliers, really do not put any pressure and we have no aim to exit this scheme faster than the Romanian state said, in 2025, with the mention that its support must be correlated with timely payments, because six-month gaps can no longer be covered by pre-financing the suppliers, if necessary bank loans. The suppliers are already starting to accumulate quite high financing costs, which in the medium-long term will make it a bit more difficult to return to the free market,” said Dărăban.

She recalled the last decision of the Government, by which the funds accumulated from the solidarity tax were transferred to the transition fund, and that at the time of the appearance of the respective ordinance, three billion lei in arrears to suppliers were pending at the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Labor.

“There were at the time when the ordinance was discussed, and the information can be found including in the Memorandum of Justification of the ordinance, three billion (lei) awaiting payment. Those three billion will somehow close the payments somewhere at most until May, but the situation differs from case to case in the case. Meanwhile, ANRE (National Energy Regulatory Authority – n. r.), last week, gave another communication that it analyzed a number of applications, the amount increased. From our point of view, in June , about 1.5 billion (lei) were pending at ANRE, but the suppliers continuously submit settlement files. So, compared to the three (billion lei) that were due at the two ministries, there were, we believe, about 1, 5 pending at ANRE and our estimate is that somewhere another 2 billion have been deposited or will be deposited in the meantime and the payments will arrive somewhere in June. So the 3 billion that were waiting for payment are covered by the amounts made available from the Transition Fund. In order to close the payments by June, another three billion lei would be needed, according to our assessment (…). Now, we should somehow find these three billion in the budget rectification project, if there is no other source of financing, because all payments can only be made from the Transition Fund.(…) So, if we do not see the rectification budget some additional allocations (…) we will return to the same rhythm. Payment periods of 5-6 months are accumulating again and it is becoming increasingly complicated to be supported by the suppliers,” added the director of ACUE.