The gas bill could increase, from April 1, 2026, after the expiry of the capping-compensation scheme, by approximately 5%, according to the president of the Romanian Energy Suppliers Association (AFEER), Laurenţiu Urluescu.
Gas will be more expensive from April 1. Archive photo
“Now we, as suppliers, for household and heating we have a purchase price of 120 lei/MWhto which the storage part is added, and we expect that, from April 1, we will go to the market price, which is somewhere around 170 lei/MWh. It could increase (the bill) by at least 5% from April 1“, said Urluescu.
Among the measures that could be considered in this context, AFEER representatives mention vouchers for vulnerable consumers and increasing liquidity on the wholesale natural gas market.
The final price of natural gas consists of the price of standard products (baseload), which represents the most stable part, the cost of short-term adjustments, for consumption variations, and storage costs, for winter consumption and security of supply.
Until March 31, 2026, the final price invoiced by natural gas suppliers is a maximum of 0.31 lei/kWh, including VAT, for domestic customers, and a maximum of 0.37 lei/kWh, including VAT, for non-domestic customers whose annual consumption of natural gas in the previous year at the place of consumption is no more than 50,000 MWh, as well as for thermal energy producers and non-domestic customers within industrial parks regulated by Law no. 186/2013 regarding the establishment and operation of industrial parks, with subsequent amendments and additions, as well as those within closed distribution systems defined according to Law no. 123/2012, with subsequent amendments and additions.
The unpaid amounts to energy suppliers amount to approximately 7 billion lei
The unpaid sums to energy suppliers, within the capping-compensation scheme, currently amount to around 7 billion lei, according to estimates from the market, said on Wednesday, the president of the Romanian Energy Suppliers Association (AFEER), Laurenţiu Urluescu.
“The last month, which is almost completely closed for checks, is January 2024. Somewhere around 7 billion lei would be unsettled so far. In general, there are amounts that have not yet been confirmed by ANRE (National Energy Regulatory Authority no), they are being confirmed. (…) It is an estimate from the market, from several suppliers. You can never know a fixed amount, only after ANRE confirms the amounts“, explained Urluescu.
He emphasized that the law states that only until December 2026 is it possible to regularize the amounts related to GEO 27/2022 and GEO 6/2025.
“What does regularization mean? It means that if there is something wrong or measures appear, I know, because the measures come after several months, the amounts are regularized. And after December 2026, you can no longer ask for the regularization of these amounts. (…) There is no term in which the state can give these amounts (unsettled no). It was once, but they took it out“, added the president of AFEER.
According to him, the state collected from the energy sector, in the period 2022-2024, about 80 billion lei, from the VAT difference, from dividends, from overtaxation of production and trading and from the solidarity tax.
“This is how we calculated, for 2022, 2023, 2024, about 80 billion lei, from the difference in VAT that is applied to a larger calculation base, from dividends, from overtaxation of production and trading and from the solidarity contribution for 2022 and 2023“Urluescu explained at a meeting with the press.
