The price of gas after March 31 will remain unchanged for domestic consumers, assures the Minister of Energy. What is the formula found by the Government

The Minister of Energy, Bogdan Ivan, stated on Digi24 that, for the period after March 31, when the natural gas price ceiling will expire, he found a hybrid formula for the final consumer, so that the price of gas does not increase. What will exceed the current ceiling will be paid by the Romanian state.

“I'll explain it as simply as I can. At the moment, to make sure that we don't have a price explosion, in the context where, normally, there was no reason to have a higher price after March 31, however, offers appeared in the market from the big suppliers and 18-20% higher than today's,” said Bogdan Ivan, quoted by News.ro.

Bogdan Ivan claimed that the final gas price will not exceed 0.31 lei per kW, as it is now, and if it exceeds, the state will pay.

“For this reason, we found a formula, somewhat hybrid, in which we cap the price at the producer at a lower rate than today and two we have a maximum cap for the regulated tariff at the gas carrier and at the gas distributor and at the supplier. In this formula, we ensure that no matter how high they will go on this beach, if we were to talk that they will still go to the maximum price, it will not exceed the final price capped today at 0.31 lei per kW, 310 lei per MW. And if the price is higher than 0.31, the Romanian state pays it. In this way, we encourage the suppliers, the distributors to reduce their expenses, and thus lower the costs,” said Bogdan Ivan.

Liberalization, postponed by a year

The gas price ceiling was due to expire on March 31, 2026, but the Government decided to postpone the liberalization. Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan declared, on February 4, that “2027, when we will have overproduction of gas, would be a more suitable year 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 drop in the price of gas. This means that 2027 would be a more suitable year to liberalize. Between April 1, 2026 and March 31, 2027, there should be a period with a capped price for domestic consumers,” said Bolojan.

The promise was repeated by the Minister of Energy, Bogdan Ivan, two days later.

“I decided to come up with a variant in which we would continue to cap the price at the producers and throughout the chain so that the price at the end consumer would not increase for at least a year from now. This means that by March 31, 2027 we will have a cap on the price, maybe even go down with it, given that we are starting to have competition on the market and we have a new supply operator in the gas supply market in Romania, namely the state company Romgaz, and in this formula, we manage to lower the prices”, added the minister.

Bogdan Ivan suggested that the Neptun Deep project will also lead to lower bills.

“Next year, in 2027, we start extracting natural gas from the Black Sea, from Neptun Deep. We are almost doubling our natural gas production capacity (…). It is obvious that it must start to be felt on the bill”, the Minister of Energy, Bogdan Ivan, also declared.