Many of the Romanians who will take more money out of their pockets in January 2026, due to heating with electricity, could have significantly reduced costs if they had changed their supplier, choosing a more advantageous offer from the market.
Romanians can reduce their electricity bill by up to 35% if they change their supplier
“It's not too late to make a smart decision, because winter is not over and we still have approx three months of cold ahead. At the moment there are offers under 1 leu/kWh, up to 35% lower than the current ones, and the difference will be seen directly in the invoice, month by month”said energy expert Dumitru Chisăliță, president of the Intelligent Energy Association (AEI).
In his opinion, Romanians do not pay for expensive energy because it is scarce, but because “they are afraid and disgusted to change their supplier”.
According to the cited source, in July 2025, “Romania brutally entered a reliberalized energy market”.
“After years of caps and interventions, the state withdrew protection without preparation, without communication and without transition tools. The result was an average increase in the electricity price of over 60% in a few months. A public scandal followed, but no real reform. The paradox is that, just a few months after this shock, there are offers on the market below 1 lei/kWh, with VAT included (the average capped price was 0.79 lei/kWh) – more than 35% lower than the average price paid by most households. And yet, the great mass of consumers does not move. Why? The answer is not economic. It's psychological. After three years of chaos – exploding bills, arbitrary caps, rule changes and contradictory messages – Romanians no longer perceive energy as a service. I perceive it as a danger. When the price increases by 60% overnight, the brain stops doing calculations. Enter survival mode: “I better not change anything”. This is how what economists call “status quo bias” appears – but in Romania it has been amplified to the point of deadlock. Even a 35% cheaper offer is viewed as suspicious, not an opportunity. “It sure is a trap.” “Surely they will increase after.” “I'd rather stay where I am. Even if I pay a lot more“, mentions the energy expert.
According to him, the state succeeded in destroying confidence in the market.
“For years, the message was: “don't worry, we protect you from the market”. Then, suddenly: “from tomorrow the market decides everything”. For millions of people, the market no longer means competition, but chaos. In this climate, the big suppliers – Electrica, PPC, E.ON – don't have to be cheap. They just need to be “known”. They have a logo, they have headquarters, they have the state behind them, real or perceived. Small suppliers can come with better prices, but they compete not with other offers, but with fear”he said.
In his opinion, there is also “a bureaucratic friction intentionally left unclear“.
“Although changing the supplier takes ten minutes online, people do not know who is billing, when they change, if they end up with debts or without electricity. This is not an accident, it protects the status quo. The result is a market liberalized on paper and frozen in reality. People pay more not because there are no alternatives, but because they don't have the confidence to use them. How could this deadlock be broken? Not by new caps, but by directly attacking fear“, the document also states.
According to AEI, a simple state guarantee “if you pay more after switching providers, we'll refund the difference” would radically change behavior.
“A standard one-page contract, recommended by ANRE, would eliminate the pitfalls. A public portal that would present the average of the last prices concluded for the population, would transform savings from abstract to emotion. But these things do not happen. Because a functioning market would cut the profits of some suppliers, many of whom are directly or indirectly linked to the state and politics. It would cut the taxes and excises that go to the state. Romania does not have an energy crisis. He has a crisis of confidence. And until fear is addressed as a central issue, millions of people will continue to willingly pay 30-40% more in a market that might be cheap, but is held dear by silence and inertia”, the representatives of the association claim.
