Mysterious document, published by the Ministry of Energy and deleted after a few minutes / Electricity and gas suppliers were accused of unjustified increases in bills

While Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan was announcing on Wednesday evening, in a press conference, that the liberalization of the gas market is being postponed by a year, a draft emergency ordinance was posted on the website of the Ministry of Energy, complete with a supporting note, which specified that the Government will also intervene in the electricity market, liberalized on July 1, 2025. A few minutes later, the project was deleted from the website of the Ministry of Energy.

HotNews asked the representatives of the Ministry of Energy what happened to the draft normative act, but we did not receive any answer.

The document provided for state intervention in the electricity market as well, by capping the commercial addition set by suppliers and traders. This despite the fact that, two days ago, the president of the Competition Council, Bogdan Chirițoiu, said that the electricity market is working well after liberalization, and prices have fallen.

“The maximum allowed commercial markup is: a) a maximum of 3% for the activities of the electricity trader and the natural gas trader; b) a maximum of 5% for the activities of supplying electricity and natural gas to final customers,” the text of the emergency ordinance published and then deleted read.

The Ministry of Energy says that suppliers' current commercial mark-ups do not reflect market costs

According to the substantiation note, the draft normative act is initiated by the Ministry of Energy, in order to ensure the correct functioning of the electricity and natural gas market, to protect final consumers and to limit the distortions generated by unjustified commercial practices in the marketing and supply chain.

“The initiative is based on the recent developments of the two markets, which highlight significant and persistent increases in final prices, not proportionally correlated with the structure and production costs. Thus, on the electricity market, the weighted average supply price increased from approximately 482 lei/MWh in the May-October 2020 period to approximately 922 lei/MWh in the corresponding period from 2025, respectively an increase of almost 91%.

Similarly, on the natural gas market, the average selling price to final customers increased from approximately 97 lei/MWh in the period May-October 2020 to over 196 lei/MWh in 2025, which represents an increase of over 100%, in conditions of maintaining a relatively stable structure of domestic production.

The project aims to correct the structural dysfunctions manifested by the uncontrolled expansion of commercial margins practiced by suppliers, which contributed decisively to the increase in final prices borne by consumers, without a proportional correlation with the evolution of real costs in the energy sector”, explain the initiators of the project.

The government announced the postponement of the liberalization of the gas market by one year

In parallel, from the Victoria Palace, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan announced that the liberalization of the gas market will no longer take place on March 31, as was established, but will be postponed by a year.

“We have to take steps to remove the cap, but we also have to protect the citizens of Romania,” Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said on Wednesday, referring to the price of natural gas. The head of government specified that next year, when an overproduction of gas is expected, would be “a good time for liberalization”.

“Being a difficult year, it is normal to take these measures, given that from 2027 we will have new gas resources which should lead to a decrease in the price of gas. This means that 2027 would be a more suitable year to liberalize,” said the prime minister, adding that he proposed that until March 2027 there would be a transitional period with a regulated price for domestic consumers throughout the chain

HotNews has asked for reactions from companies and professional associations in the energy sector, which we will publish when we receive them. From the first information, industry representatives were not aware of these Government plans.

The price of energy, Photo: Pogonici | Dreamstime.com