The ordinance on the measures applicable to final customers in the electricity and natural gas market between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023 was published in the Official Gazette on Tuesday morning, and according to it, producers are encouraged to continue their investments, because prices are good, the Minister of Energy, Virgil Popescu, announced in a debate organized by Financial Intelligence.
“We worked at the General Secretariat of the Government, it was not an easy Ordinance. Certain formal, not substantive observations were to be integrated from the Legislative Council, and this morning it was published in the Official Gazette as announced. (…) If we look at it, and we have seen that an analogy has been publicly tried with Ordinance 114, it is completely different. When you put a ceiling in the wholesale market of 150 lei net per MWh for the customers to which the producers sell, it is a price that I think is very stimulating for absolutely all investments in natural gas in Romania. Let’s look at the Ordinance, see what is written in the Ordinance and see that the producers are encouraged to continue their investments, because the prices are ok from the point of view of the manufacturer and the supplier and the final customer and our main concern, of the ministry, of the Government, was not to affect the investments,” said Popescu, according to Agerpres.
He reiterated that, from April 1, we have as a novelty a social tariff for electricity of 68 bani (0,68 RON) per KWh for all those with a monthly consumption of up to 100 KWh and 80 bani for a consumption between 100 and 300 KWh, while for those who consume more than 300 KWh there is no threshold.
“The question arises very naturally and normally: what happens to those who consume more than 300 KWh? I believe that those who consume more than 300 KWh, among whom I am because I have heat pumps, can find the offer of Hidroelectrica attractive and move to Hidroelectrica because the offer is the same as a year ago, of two years, of three years ago. In the meantime, the company’s IT module has been greatly improved, the move is made instantly in a few minutes after this contract is signed online, on the computer,” said the Minister of Energy.
Virgil Popescu stressed that the novelty of this Ordinance is that the suppliers have recognized a supply cost of 73 lei per MWh, so 0.073 lei/KWh, which will be added to the cost of purchasing electricity.
“So it will not be a resale with a certain addition of electricity, but simply the cost of purchasing the energy will be recognized, as it is bought and will be sold,” he explained.
As for natural gas, the novelty is that, regardless of consumption, there is a regulated price of up to 31 bani per KWh. For non-household consumers, the price for electricity will be of a maximum of 1 lei/ kWh, VAT included, and for gas, a maximum of 0.37 lei/ kWh, for an annual consumption of natural gas of no more than 50,000 MWh/ place of consumption/ year.