The year 2022 brings to the Romanians an increase of the minimum wage, of the pension point and of the allowances for children, but the electricity in universal service regime and the fuels have become more expensive, starting with January 1st.

Thus, the level of excise duties increased slightly, being indexed with inflation, for almost all product categories, the only exception being cigarettes, where the level of excise duties remains at 563.97 lei per 1,000 pieces.

Therefore, according to the figures published by the Ministry of Finance, for leaded gasoline the excise duties increase to 2,226.24 lei/ 1,000 liters, from 2,149.09 lei/ 1,000 liters in 2021, for unleaded gasoline to 1,892.72 lei/ 1,000 liters, from 1,827.13 lei in 2021, and for diesel the applicable excise duties are up to 1,734.66 lei/ 1,000 liters, as compared to 1,674.55 lei/ 1,000 liters in 2021. This will lead to an increase of about 7 bani per liter of the price of fuel at the pump, according to Agerpres.

Regarding the natural gas used as engine fuel, the excise duty increases to 14.08 lei/ GJ, from 13.59 lei, for electricity used for commercial purposes the new applicable excise duties are of 2.71 lei/ MWh compared to 2.61 lei in 2021, and for electricity used for non-commercial purposes – to 5.42 lei / MWh, compared to 5.23 lei/ MWh.

There are also increases in the price of electricity consumed in universal service- for the approximately 3.7 million consumers who have not yet concluded a contract on the free market. According to ANRE decisions, tariffs increase by 50-90%, depending on the supplier. The good news is that users will not actually pay these prices in the winter, as bills are capped and offset from the state budget until March 31, 2022. The bad news, however, is that these rates are valid until mid-year and there is no decision on possible extension of support measures.