I did not go well on the free market, that the suppliers also started the battle to win as many customers as possible. It is good news because, in a free market, the competition between companies finally leads to lowering prices. Provided the state to take a step back and no longer mix in the energy market, but only to supervise and sanction companies when they violate the law.
For energy suppliers, the fight for customers has already become fierce, which can cause them to force the limits of the law.
For example, the suppliers were obliged, by an order issued by ANRE at the beginning of May, to send to all customers a notification regarding the liberalization of the market on July 1, as well as the price that will be applied starting with this date. According to the order, the suppliers were obliged to send this notification by June 10. But not everyone complied.
On Wednesday, June 11, several PPC customers reported that they have not received this notification and that I do not know what price they will pay from July 1. HotNews.ro asked the company representatives since Wednesday, which is why they did not comply with the ANRE, but I did not receive an answer. In contrast, the next day, on Thursday, customers began to receive notifications, but they do not contain the price they will pay after July 1.
PPC Romania, the former Enel, is one of the largest energy suppliers in the country, with a portfolio of 3.1 million customers.
“The fact that they did not inform their consumers is a maneuver that is part of the battle for customers, which started. It only needed an email sent to all consumers, only so, and they had more than a month. It is incredible how a company has chosen to simply ignore an order of ANRE.
The PPC does not in this way violate only the ANRE order in May, but also the rights of consumers stipulated in the Electric Energy supply regulation developed by ANRE, which stipulates that suppliers are obliged to inform their customers about changing prices at least 30 days before.
Hidroelectrica says she can take over all customers, but what does that mean?
Another example of marketing movement is the Hidroelectrica announcement by which the company claims that it can take over all customers who want to change their supplier.
I asked another expert in the energy sector if this is possible.
“Theoretically yes, it would be possible for Hidroelectrica to take over all domestic customers. But they would lose it, under the conditions of now on the market. This will have to buy more energy for the evening and in the morning, when the domestic customers consume a lot. Thus it would come to the situation in which Hidroelectrica would not buy energy and With the Court of Accounts, ”he explained.
Hidroelectrica announces it can take over all consumers who want to change their energy supplier / what are the documents you need
Another risk would be to trigger an infringement procedure from the European Commission, given that Hidroelectrica, a state -owned company, practices a price well below that of the market, which would distort the entire sector.
“What Hidroelectrica does now does not have any economic meaning. We have not worked well and we are already creating distortions in the market, ”said the expert.
Companies come with counter -offenders to regain lost customers
On the other hand, the fact that Hidroelectrica has a much lower price than the others creates pressure for the rest of the suppliers.
According to hotnews.ro information, the PPC sent to consumers who left its portfolio to Hidroelectrica offers to return, at a price of 1.19 lei/kWh, considerably lower than the standard offer posted on the price comparator on ANRE (1.55 lei/kWh).
This shows us, on the one hand, that suppliers see a real problem in the migration of consumers to other companies and, on the other hand, that the prices that are now on the ANRE website are not the market prices and can be low.
In conclusion, we can have a free energy market, with a healthy competition between companies that will lead to the natural lowering of prices for consumers. However, in order for this to be possible, the state has to take a step back and allow the market to self -regulate, because the artificial interventions have distorted too many times so far the balance between demand and offer and finally all the consumers have suffered.
From now on, the state can have only one role: to carefully supervise the market and to correctly fine the companies that do not comply with the law.
