Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă announced on Monday evening, after a meeting of the governmental coalition, the modification of the conditions for the application of the support scheme (capping and compensation) for energy consumers. The measures will be applied for February and March 2022, for all consumers, whether domestic or industrial. “It’s a cap, there is no renunciation of price liberalization. The impact for the two months will be 3 billion lei”, declared prime minister Nicolae Ciucă.

“We managed to reach an agreement so that the energy cap will decline from 1 lei to 0.8 lei per kWh”, specified the head of the government. The consumption limit for which this price will be used will increase from 300 kWh to 500 kWh. “Basically, there is a compensation of 0.291 lei/kWh, which will mean that consumers will be charged 68 bani/kWh. Also, for SMEs, for large consumers, non-households, the price will be capped at 1 lei/kWh”, explained Ciucă.

For natural gas, the cap will be changed from 0.37 to 0.31 lei per kWh, and the consumption limit for five months will increase from 1,000 to 1,500 cubic meters. Also, a 40% discount will be applied, a percentage increased from 33%, which would lead to a price of 0.221 lei per kWh. Also, for SMEs, schools, hospitals, churches, food industry, a price of 0.37 lei/kWh will be guaranteed, Nicolae Ciucă announced.

The prime minister also said that almost a million bills were issued with the wrong rates. “All invoices issued incorrectly will be reversed and resent, without people being penalized. Capping decisions will apply from 1 February. There is no constitutional issue. It’s a cap, the liberalization of prices is not reversed. The impact for the two months will be 3 billion lei”, the head of the government announced.

The changes are to be introduced by an emergency ordinance within two weeks. If the price evolution continues to produce the effects we all feel, the prime minister added, “we will have a continuous process of analysis so that we can take the appropriate measures”. “It remains for us to discuss with suppliers and distributors tomorrow morning [Tuesday, January 18] and depending on this meeting we will establish the other technical detail to be included in the Government ordinance.”