The energy system has fundamentally changed, and is currently more flexible, more accessible and more oriented towards consumer protection, declared, on Tuesday, the president of the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE), George Niculescu, at the event marking the 25th anniversary of activity of ANRE.

“From 2024 we have an impressive number of market participants, whether we are talking about suppliers or producers, which indicates that the Romanian market is a consolidated one at the moment. The energy system has fundamentally transformed. It is more flexible, more accessible and more oriented towards the protection of the consumer. 25 years ago, we could not have imagined that a household consumer could produce the energy he needs and deliver his surplus to the distribution networks. This is not the case today possible, but this phenomenon reaches impressive values, because we are talking about a number of prosumers of approximately 137,000 with a total installed capacity of 1,774 megawatts,” said George Niculescu, quoted by Agerpres.

He stated that any serious investor who complies with the licensing requirements imposed by ANRE will not encounter barriers when entering the energy markets, because access is transparent and non-discriminatory.

Also, Niculescu mentioned that there is an increased appetite of investors to develop energy capacities in Romania. That is why the regulatory committee within the Authority meets weekly, to deal with the wave of requests for establishment authorization and production license and to come to the support of investors and the consumer.

“We are not here to discuss only the past. Perhaps today, more than ever, we are interested in the future. That is why I want to inform you that the Authority will collaborate with Romanian universities and conduct internship programs. We will soon sign a collaboration protocol with the Polytechnic University, and I want to thank you for the openness, because we must contribute to the training of tomorrow’s specialists in the energy system who will be active in this sector. We all want a high-performing, mature energy sector and we cannot achieve the performance in this field than through well-trained people. We will continue to regulate with open doors, we will continue to be an honest partner for any serious entrepreneur who wants to invest in the energy sector, whether Romanian or foreign. We have eliminated and will continue to eliminate elements about the bureaucracy and we will continue to improve the regulations so that the Romanian energy sector becomes even more attractive. Responsibility is the watchword when we talk about regulations,” said the president of ANRE.

In his opinion, the activity of the Regulatory Authority should not be spectacular, but it should be characterized by responsibility and professionalism and should be part of the transformations that are happening in the energy sector.

“When we imagine the Romanian energy sector of tomorrow, we take into account internal factors, but also the new geopolitical realities. ANRE has a major role in strengthening Romania’s energy security. The courageous actions of recent years make Romania a development model today and of good practice in the region. We will strengthen and expand this role. Obviously, there is no such thing as a perfect regulatory system, we can always have unforeseen events at the global, European or regional level. However, we have strong institutions that act in the interests of consumers. At ANRE, we have developed an efficient regulatory system and we communicate permanently with all market participants, but also with the entities that have a role in the operation and development of the energy system,” added George Niculescu.

The head of ANRE mentioned that the institution’s priority remains, as before, the protection of energy consumers in Romania.