Liberalization of energy prices: The Minister of Energy urges Romanians to move to Hidroelectrica, but the company says it can no longer take many customers

The Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja, advised the Romanians to change their energy supplier with the market liberalization and move to the one who has the best offer, this being Hidroelectrica. However, the representatives of the company say that many customers can no longer receive and in no case can they take them all.

“The energy Armageddon from July 1 will not come,” Burduja said on Friday night at Digi 24.

“There are offers in the market and at 1.1 lei per kilowatt-hour, so it could see a cheap in invoices with about 20% if I choose the supplier with the best offer. And it is a message for all Romanians to enter the ANRE website to choose the best offer,” he continued, according to Mediafax.

The offer that the minister speaks belongs to Hidroelectrica. But the company's officials hope not to attract many consumers, with the market liberalization.

“We have the lowest price announced since July 1. We hope we do not have extraordinary pressure on the migration of customers to Hidroelectrica. In no case can we take over all the domestic customers in Romania, we do not want this, we do not want to produce massive competitive disturbances to the other players. said the company's financial director, Marian Girl, in the Energy Expo Conference, which took place in the middle of May.

For several years, since he entered the supply market, Hidroelectrica has the lowest price for domestic customers and many have moved here from their traditional supplier. The company is now a market leader, with a portfolio of over 630,000 customers.

But this came to the pack with many problems, because Hidroelectrica, originally being only energy producer, did not have a well -developed system. Among the frequent problems that consumers struggled were the delay in the months and even the years of invoices, as well as the lack of management of customer relations.

The Financial Director of Hidroelectrica: “The impact will not be at all simple and must be prepared”

Liberalization of the electricity market will affect 7.2 million consumers, says Hidroelectrica

On July 1, the electricity market will be liberalized, and Hidroelectrica remains the lowest price in the market – 1.04 – 1.12 lei per KWh (depending on the distribution area), as opposed to the rest of the companies, which have offers of over 1.5 lei/kWh.

“Unfortunately, the impact of liberalization at the level of domestic consumers will not be a positive one. The time has come for this ceiling for the energy price for the domestic consumer. We talk for three years of ceiling, and the impact will be quite important for those consumers up to 255-300 kWh per month, because we talk about the price, because we will talk about the price. of 7.2 million consumers.

Therefore, the impact will not be simple and must be prepared. There is less until July 1, “said the financial director of Hidroelectrica.

The representative of the company added that, with the liberalization of the market, the suppliers want a legal framework for implemented and understanding by the population, in which to support consumers truly vulnerable, not all consumers in Romania.

From 2022, all consumers pay capped prices as follows:

• 0.68 lei/kWh (VAT included) for domestic consumers with a monthly consumption of up to 100 kWh
• 0.80 lei/kWh (VAT included) for domestic consumers with a monthly consumption between 100 and 300 kWh.
• 1.30 lei/kWh (VAT included) for domestic consumers with a monthly consumption of over 300 kWh and for non-casual consumers.

From July 1, these ceilings will disappear and everyone will pay the whole price. There are 9 million consumers on the Romanian market, half of which consume below 100 kWh per month.