The Energy Market
The Romanian authorities are continuing efforts for the total liberalization of the natural gas price.
Roxana Vasile, 06.03.2015, 13:52
In May 2012 Romania agreed with the international financial bodies, the IMF, the European Commission and the World Bank on a timetable for the liberalization of prices for natural gas produced at domestic level, both for industrial and individual consumers. The agreement provided for the elimination, by the end of 2014, of regulated prices for industrial consumers, which has actually happened. Two months after the implementation of the measure, the president of the Regulatory Authority for Energy Niculae Havrilet said that after the renegotiation of 40% of the formerly regulated contracts that have now been liberalized, the final price of gas for industrial consumers has dropped by 5%.
The two big energy providers that manage 90% of the gas market say the drop in prices has even reached 10%. The lower gas price is also due to the providers’ decision to cut down on added taxes. As for the population, the gas price will remain unchanged until July 1st. After that date the gas price for individual consumers might rise by 5% up to 9% depending on the price increases demanded by distributors, which are to be approved by the Regulatory Authority for Energy. Niculae Havrilet has presented the first estimates and pointed out that talks over the gas price rise for the next 3 years will start next month.
“The Regulatory Authority for Energy has made a simulation in the sense that, if we use the figures mentioned in the timetable for liberalization and finalize the liberalization process by 2018, we’ll have 3 years of natural gas price growth. In our estimates we counted on a 7% growth in 2015 and a 5% growth in the next 2 years until the final liberalization. But these are only estimates based on our simulation”.
According to the Regulatory Authority for Energy a legal framework has been created that allows all consumers to be able to choose their energy provider. Also, in the context of a competitive energy market, consumers have at their disposal a free-of-charge hotline that provides information on how to change the electric power or natural gas provider. According to data provided by the Regulatory Authority for Energy the consumption of natural gas on the regulated market dropped by 10.10% in 2014, while prices on the competitive market reported 1.10% growth. Over 107 million MWh of gas were produced at domestic level in 2014, by 6% more than in previous years, and more than 9 million MWh came from external sources, that is by 52% less than in previous years.
