Eliminating the 2% contribution to coal power producers represents clear discrimination against other market operators, and this tax should be canceled for everyone, says Martin Moise, vice president of the Organization of Employers for Energy Generation from Renewable Sources in Romania (PATRES).

“It is obvious that the removal of the coal-only contribution is a discrimination and it may be state aid. I am curious what the European Commission would say on this issue, given that state aid for polluting energy is provided,” Moise said, according to Agerpres.

Moreover, the Hunedoara coal Energy Complex must, anyway, return an illegal state aid from the past, he reminded.

“This contribution should be eliminated for everybody, because the effects are only negative and we will witness price increases. It would be naive on their part to say that it will not lead to price hikes, because any additional tax has the effect of increasing prices. This has been already seen since March 1, when energy distribution tariffs have increased, precisely because of this,” the representative of the renewable energy producers said.

In addition, according to him, the representatives of the National Regulatory Authority for Energy (ANRE), in whose budget the money will be collected from the contribution, said they did not need these sums.

“The price of energy is already big enough and we start to have competitiveness problems, and we grow it even more administratively and we do not know what to do with the money,” Moise concluded.