Bogdan Tudorache

The next year and a half will be crucial for Romania’s thermo-energy, as the European Commission does not like generalized subsidies for the population distributed by the city halls, says Zoltan Nagy-Bege, vice president of the National Regulatory Authority for Energy (ANRE).

Nagy-Bege explained at an event organized by AHK, which brought together Romanian and German investors, that besides vulnerable consumers who will have to be identified by the mayoralties, subsidy aid will no longer be allowed, as the new law in that sense, already delayed two times, will enter into effect on 1 March 2020.

“City halls should identify vulnerable consumers – until then, there will be no implementation. […] Revenues should be revised again. […] In Bucharest, when no aid is granted, many will give up the grid and move to own centrals, especially on gas – since we have a capped price of 68 lei/MW… This will mean the death of the centralized distribution system”, Nagy-Bege said.

“Remains emblematic the solution by which the problem of the RADET-ELCEN system will be solved… Absolutely all the actors have to get involved. If there are no solutions, this winter we will have a big problem”, the ANRE official said.

In addition, a new cogeneration support scheme will be needed, with the current one expiring soon. “I would prefer us to stop saving only the existing plants, how the 2009 scheme has been working. [We should] also stimulate new cogeneration plants”, said Nagy-Bege.