The Association of Switch: Romanians will pay among the highest energy prices in Europe / “The market is chaotic”

The Romanians will pay, after liberalization, among the highest electricity prices in Europe, it is shown in an analysis of the Association of Swingers and Energy Communities. This is because the market is chaotic regulated, the production is little and expensive, the distribution and supply rates are high, and the regulatory authority is non -existent for consumers.

Romania does not produce enough energy and what produces is unjustified by expensive, say APCE representatives:

• Hidroelectrica, the largest energy producer in the country, sells energy 3-4 times more expensive than their counterparts in western Canada, at the exit of the central. Not until today they could not explain how they can sell the active energy with 0.45 lei/kWh without taxes, while, in British Colombia, the same price already includes all taxes and is delivered to the consumer.
• Nuclearelectrica produces with an average cost of 0.45 lei/kWh, compared to 0.34 lei/kWh in Western Europe.
• The energy produced from charcoal thermal power plants is also expensive, and polluting. Although Europe has an average cost of 0.37 lei/kWh, in Romania the price varies between 0.42 and 0.55 lei/kWh – and most of the costs are not technological, but related to inefficiency, swollen salaries and trade union interests.

“Romania can not cover its consumption peaks from its own production. The Minister of Energy recognizes this public, after two years of mandate. This is how to export cheap, and in the evening we import expensive. And the blame is told, it would be the consumer who does not adapt to the” program “of energy production. Nothing about the high price of energy that comes out of the hydro/central thermo ”, say the representatives of the organization.

According to them, before 2020, the price of energy was about 0.50 lei/kWh with all taxes included. What happened in these 5 years of tripled?

“Maybe, in the energy area, does it live as in Heaven? Maybe the Danube water has” increased “? Or the profits of the energy companies increased exponentially? Has the Ministry of Energy did something for energy to be cheap? ”.

“The suppliers produce cheap energy from the sun and wind and sell it expensive to consumers”

At the same time, the great suppliers make huge profits in Romania, the analysis continues.

“The ceiling of 2022 has cost the Romanian state 32 billion lei. At present 5 billion have not yet been paid. (…) The politician has been and is blackmailed with these outstanding amounts.”

• Premier Energy recognizes a 176%profit margin. Buy the energy from prosumers with 0.30 lei/kWh and sell it with 0.84 lei/kWh.
• Hidroelectrica buys from prosumators with 0.28 lei/kWh and sells with 0.45 lei/kWh – we do not know the production price, being “commercial secret”. We suspect it is somewhere at 0.15 lei/kWh, but that depends on the bonuses and bonuses for the management staff and the desire to collect dividends of the Romanian state.
• Engie, on the other hand, tries to buy energy from prosumers with 0.10 lei/kWh and sell with 0.793 lei/kWh – an addition of almost 800%.

“Romania being chaotic energetically regulated, both Premier Energy, but especially PPC, coming with” inspiration “from sunny Greece, they purchased, built and developed numerous photovoltaic parks, becoming from suppliers … cheap energy producers, capitalizing it expensive to consumers in Romania,” the analysis shows.

Electricity networks are old and cannot take over the surplus from prosumators

“The cost of electricity distribution in Romania with Transelectrica varies between 0.40 and 0.49 lei/kWh – that is huge. In some areas of the country, the networks are old, underdimed and without investments. The distribution rates do not reflect the reality of the land: the quality of the services is weak, and the infrastructure cannot manage the surplus of the energy generated by the energy generated by the energy generated. unjustified, without transporting an electron, no less than 18 million euros in 2024. With the ANRE contest ”.

For over a decade, no significant investments have been made in the networks ceded to private operators. Now, the consequences are felt: the prosumers are heading for storage solutions, exasperated by the inability of the networks to take over the energy produced at noon.

“ANRE is an institution broken by the consumer's reality”

“Instead of effectively regulating, the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) is limited to symbolic fines. The political appointments and the lack of expertise have transformed it into an institution that defends the interests of the big energy companies-those that feed its salary and privileges budget,” says APCE.

According to the organization, ANRE is an institution broken by the consumer's reality, which has no connection with the purpose for which it was set up. The reform is urgent, but unfortunately, the Parliament does not have real levers on an autonomous structure and has become something else.

“In conclusion, Romanians pay for an expensive and inefficient energy, stupidly distributed, expensive and chaotic regulated. While the big energy companies multiply their profits, citizens-whether they are simple consumers, or prosumers-remain captive spectators in an unfair, unbalanced and non-transparent system.”