Page 14 - EurOil Week 45 2022

EurOil POLICY EurOil

Romania tweaks gas, power

market regulation

ROMANIA ROMANIA’S government adjusted its energy Energy Minister Virgil Popsesu added that
support scheme for households, small businesses new power investment projects would be exempt
Partial regulation will and industry on November 11, introducing the from taking part in the mechanism.
remain until March partial regulation of its power market until “Only production capacity already in opera-
2025. March 2025, to avoid supply shortages. tion before the decree will take part, we are giv-
Like many other EU member states, Romania ing a clear signal that new investment will not
has kept in place caps on gas and power bills for be trapped in the system,” he said. “For 2023, we
consumers to shield them from soaring whole- estimate about a third of the energy market will
sale prices. Bucharest introduced these caps be in the system. We are talking about an acquisi-
for households, small businesses and public tion price which will allow us to keep the current
institutions in November last year up to certain [compensated] prices.”
monthly consumption levels, while compensat- If energy suppliers do not comply, they could
ing suppliers for the difference. It has adjusted be hit with fines equal to up to 5% of their annual
the scheme several times over this year, reducing turnover, according to the decree. A capped price
the compensated consumption levels to encour- of RON1.3 per kWh has also been introduced for
age less use, extending its duration and enforcing large industrial consumers.
windfall taxes on suppliers making excess profits To enter into force, the decree must first be
to pay for it. cleared by Romania’s parliament.
To ensure there is enough gas and power Romania is also selling power at a capped
supply available, the government provided a price to crisis-struck Moldova under excep-
centralised energy acquisition mechanism via tional circumstances triggered by the Ukrainian
emergency decree on November 17, requiring conflict. There are fears that Moldova does not
power producers to sell their supply at a regu- have enough gas to get through this winter as a
lated price of RON450 ($95) per MWh from result of cuts in supply from Russia, which covers
January next year. almost all of its demand. This has also meant that
“This decree ensures we can protect our there is less gas available for a major power sta-
population and ensure the competitiveness of tion in the breakaway Transnistria state, which
Romanian products,” Prime Minister Nicolae typically accounts for two thirds of the entire
Ciuca said. country’s electricity consumption. ™

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 45 14•November•2022