14 people from ANRE approves the settlement of tens of billions of lei from the state budget to the energy providers
Electricity invoices, photo: Baloon111 | Dreamstime.com
Only 14 ANRE employees deal with the verification and approval of the amounts to be settled from the state budget for energy suppliers, based on the ceiling-composition mechanism, says the president of the institution, George Niculescu, in the context in which the suppliers are accusing delays in the settlement of these payments. From 2022 until now, 24.2 billion lei have been settled, and in the analysis of ANRE there are requests of the suppliers of 5.1 billion lei.
In 2022, following the price increases in the electricity and gas market, the Government introduced the mechanism of capping-composition of the invoices paid by all consumers, following the difference from the price in the market will be later settled from the state budget.
Payments are made effectively by the Ministry of Energy, for non-casual consumers, and by the Ministry of Labor, for the household, but the payment requests from suppliers must be verified and approved by the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE).
Energy suppliers have often complained about the delays with which ANRE approves these settlements. For example, according to companies, almost no payment was approved during the last year.
On the other hand, the representatives of the regulatory institution stated that the delays were often caused by the fact that the suppliers entered the data erroneously in the platform that was specially made for these settlements.
“We have seen statements in the public space that ANRE does not check these requests as quickly as the suppliers are expected. But we must be responsible, but extremely responsible and meticulous, because we are talking about small amounts,” explained ANRE President George Niculescu.
ANRE employees verify both the data transmitted by the suppliers and, by the survey, if they coincide with those of the invoices
“There are 11 people who actually make these checks, plus one that provides technical support and a coordinator on electricity and gas areas. They must check all the documents sent by the suppliers in that platform and, by survey, check tens, hundreds of thousands of invoices to see if the information coincide.
It is a new activity for ANRE, I did not have this role so far, but I understood that it is an exceptional situation, and my colleagues are as serious as possible and determined to respect the procedures and rules we have in force ”, said Niculescu.
What mistakes do the suppliers make in the settlement applications
ANRE representatives have shown that settlement requests from suppliers are full of mistakes such as:
- non -compliance with format in created files
- not loading files without which the process cannot go further, such as statements on their own responsibility that consumers must complete in order to fall to the lowest ceiling
- Incomplete or incorrect data load in contracts or supporting documents
- wrong completion of data as a result of one's own interpretation
- inconsistencies between loaded data and required amounts
- late liability to ANRE's reports reported
- Issuing erroneous invoices with other distribution rates
- Including customers who are already below the ceiling price, where you have no more to settle
- the erroneous classification of the customers for which the settlement is required
“We notice that there are many cases when ANRE notifies these errors, they ask for a response term, the suppliers do not respond in time, and then ANRE issues a decision to suspend the settlement process for a limited term, until the errors notified.”
- “We do not want to show with the finger that some of them do not charge in time or correct, but it is good to know the perspective of ANRE and the experts here, which analyze hundreds and thousands of applications.
- We have checked so far requests of 24.2 billion lei we have other applications of 5.1 billion lei in the analysis. There are very high values and therefore the level of responsibility and attention must be high ”, continued the ANRE president.
Niculescu also said that he was considering supplementing the number of experts in this department with another five, also from the authority, considering that during this period no new employment can be made.
The head of ANRE showed that no cases have been found in which the suppliers were suspected of intentionally transmitted wrong data to ANRE, to receive illegally money.
The electricity market will be completely liberalized on July 1, 2025, and the one of natural gas, on April 1, 2026.
