The National Council for Small and Medium Private Enterprises in Romania (CNIPMMR) is analyzing the possibility of setting up a special energy supplier for SMEs and asks the authorities to support this sector with state aid to pay the bills, said Florin Jianu, president of CNIPMMR.

“There is a concern for SMEs about rising energy prices, because we are talking about a category as vulnerable as the population. SMEs also have a poor bargaining power and the changes are that the price will increase by 20 % for SMEs as well, which would lead Romania back to 2007, when it had the most expensive energy in the EU, with consequences for the daily basket and competitiveness. Romanian SMEs cannot afford to pay for more expensive energy, energy meaning a lot in production costs,” Jianu said, according to Agerpres.

He requested that a representative of SMEs be included in the Advisory Council of the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE).

“I think it is necessary to discuss a state aid to support energy costs and we will have discussions in the council (CNIPMMR ) on the possibility of setting up our own supplier to help the needs of SMEs,” added Jianu.