GEO 114 has brought great benefits to gas and electricity suppliers, says PNL deputy Virgil Popescu, deputy chairman of the Committee on Industries and Services of the Chamber of Deputies.
“As long as the price for the domestic consumer, both for electricity and for natural gas has not decreased, and the purchase price of both electricity and natural gas suppliers has decreased, it is obvious that they have extra-gains”, says Popescu, quoted by financialintelligence.ro.
“That’s why we also have this lobby of suppliers to maintain these provisions for as long as possible. In principle, everyone agrees with the repeal of these provisions, but the suppliers want a transitional period until 1.04.2021. What transition can that be, when one wants such a long period?… These provisions should be repealed, obviously with a transitional period, but not later than the end of this winter. It is unacceptable to me that the transitional period should extend beyond this date. We must not forget that, until September 26, we must respond to the European Commission with concrete facts, otherwise the violation will cost Romania a lot,” said Popescu.
Disputes on the de-regulation
A meeting of the main stakeholders in the energy market took place on Tuesday at the Ministry of Energy, on re-liberalizing the gas market, without which Romania will have to pay fines, at the end of this month, as the European Commission has initiated the infringement procedure against our country, according to e-nergia.ro.
According to sources who participated in the discussions, the positions seem irreconcilable.
The big suppliers have again maintained their known position, trying to take advantage of the regulation of the market and the capping of the gas purchase price, regulated by GEO 114. They say that from April 1, 2020, for another year, half of the domestic gas it supplies to domestic consumers and producers of thermal energy for the population should be bought from producers at the current price of 68 lei/ MWh. They said that only the remaining 50% would be bought on the stock exchange, at the market price.
On the other hand, the country’s gas producers, which were severely affected by GEO 114 and GEO 19, which supplemented it, argued that liberalization must be done quickly, as otherwise there would be many more negative effects: fines paid as a result of the infringement and the threat to any new projects for increasing domestic gas production, with direct consequences on the country’s energy independence.