The national energy grid copes with the cold snap

The energy minister is giving assurances that the national energy grid can cope with the current cold snap.

Mihai Pelin, 20.01.2026, 13:50

Romania is in the grips of a cold snap, with temperatures well below the average for this time of the year, especially during the night and in the morning. The snow has kept the air cold, which has settled like a dome, thus blocking the warmer air and maintaining extremely low temperatures, which in some places dropped to minus 21 degrees Celsius. As a result, gas and electricity consumption has increased considerably.

The Minister for Energy, Bogdan Ivan, has called for a meeting of the National Energy Command. He indicated that the temperatures seen these days are several degrees below the average of the last five years, during a similar period, so that the demand for energy is very high. Bogdan Ivan said that consumption is at its highest in the last four years, but gave assurances that the national energy system is coping. The energy mix is stable in terms of electricity, production is good, and gas stocks are still at a high level of almost 60% of the total, although gas consumption is higher by over 14% compared to the same period last year.

Regarding the prospect of eliminating the price cap on natural gas from April 1, he was optimistic that the move will not bring about price increases, especially since the largest domestic producer and main supplier of natural gas in Romania would also enter the supply market. Bogdan Ivan explains:

“I have been made aware of the intention, which I welcome, of the Romgaz company to also operate as a natural gas supply operator, which I view as extremely important. This will automatically bring competition to this market, and that, as we all know, is what will bring about a decrease in final prices. If, for reasons that are independent of Romania and what we do at the ministry, such as the international context, the conflict in Ukraine, various challenges may arise on the natural gas market, we are also prepared with a plan B, namely gradually eliminating this cap for a year, until we start exploiting more gas from Neptun Deep, which will guarantee that Romania will not have to go through the same thing again that when the cap on electricity was eliminated.”

Bogdan Ivan also said that a challenge at the moment is the situation of the large district heating networks in Bucharest and Craiova, with many breakdowns occurring because of aging installations and the lack of investment, adding that steps are being taken both for temporary solutions and for large-scale projects. He requested an amount from the prime minister’s reserve fund to temporarily solve the district heating problems of these two large cities.

If the cold snap continues, the National Energy Command will meet again to assess the state of the national energy system.