Senators cap energy prices

A government emergency order capping electricity prices was passed by the Senate.

Corina Cristea, 28.09.2022, 13:50

The Senate passed on Tuesday a government emergency
order capping and compensating for electricity prices. Suppliers will no longer
be able to bill private households with an average monthly consumption of up to
100 kWh more than 0.68 lei/kWh, including VAT, and households with an average
monthly consumption of up to 255 kWh more than 0.80 lei/ kWh, including VAT.

The Senate passed a number of amendments referring
both to household and non-household consumers. The list of beneficiaries is now
longer and also includes private households with a monthly average of over 300
kWh last year but who now stay within the new ceiling. One amendment stipulates
that families with three school-age children benefit from the lower price
whatever their consumption. This also applies to household consumers using electrical
devices or equipment needed for medical treatment. Energy suppliers say it will
be difficult to identify households with three children in school as they only collect
data referring to consumption.

It was also decided that the list of non-household
consumers benefitting from a capped price of 1 leu/ kWh, like small and medium
sized companies, would also include public transport companies, water and
sewerage services, religious establishments and medicine producers and suppliers.
The maximum final price billed by providers of natural gas is 0.31 lei/ kWh for
household users and 0.37 lei/ kWh for non-household users.

The Liberal senator Sorin Bumb says the amendments
adopted aim to make the effects of the rise in electricity and natural gas
prices tolerable for household users and small and medium sized businesses:

Household users consuming up to 100 kWh will pay 0.68
lei, and those consuming up to 255 kWh 0.8 lei. An average will be calculated
for last year and those who consumed below 300 kWh last year will also pay 0.8
lei, which I think this is only right, including a large as possible a category
of household users.

Things are seen differently from the opposition, with
the senators of the Save Romania Union and the Alliance for the Union of
Romanians abstaining on account of the fact that their amendments were not
taken into consideration. Cristian Bordei, from the Save Romania Union:

The fact that the state obstinately rejects all
proposals to lower taxes only proves once more that the state wants to continue
to get the lion’s share of the money generated by these price increases at the
expense of the economy and its citizens.

The bill adopted by the Senate will next be submitted
to the Chamber of Deputies, which is the decision-making body in this case. (CM)