Measures in the field of energy
Energy was high on the agenda of the last government session in Bucharest this year
Bogdan Matei, 29.12.2022, 14:00
The war in the neighboring Ukraine and the
energy crisis it caused in the entire Europe has prompted the authorities in
Bucharest to look for legislative solutions to ensure electricity, gas and heat
supplies towards both the population and the economic players. As legislation hasn’t
always been coherent in this field, the rules of the game have often changed.
In its session on Wednesday, the last this year, the government endorsed a new
draft ordinance, which eliminates the affidavit on electricity consumption.
Before the new law, owners of one or more
households had to produce an affidavit, which caused confusion among natural
persons and suppliers alike. For this reason, the ruling PSD-PNL-UDMR coalition
has decided to eliminate the aforementioned document. Also on Wednesday, the government
decided to eliminate the 10 eurocents fuel subsidy, which is no longer applied
starting January 1st
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă says the
authorities are ready to again apply the measure if prices are going to exceed
the citizens’ purchasing power.
The executive has announced additional
taxes for energy suppliers, which announced significant profits against the
latest crisis. Under the new legislation, taxes rose by 60% in the case of the
companies operational in the field of oil, gas and coal exploitation and
deliveries, which reported huge profits this year.
Mihai Diaconu, state secretary with the
Finance Ministry explains, that the law will be applied only in the case of the
companies whose average profit has risen 20% in the past 4 years. The
government pledges the money coming from the aforementioned taxes will go to
investments.
However, representatives of the companies
in the field have described the new measure as too harsh, adding that 33% would
have been a decent percentage.
The government has also postponed until
October 31st next year the closing down of the coal-operated power
plants as well as the coal exploitation facilities. According to the
commitments Romania has assumed under the National Plan of Recovery and
Resilience, the aforementioned facilities should have been closed down by the
end of this year. To motivate its decision, the government has invoked the extremely
difficult energy situation in Romania and the entire Europe, including through
the latest Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power infrastructure.
(bill)
