The Salvaţi Union of Romania asks the governors to stop the publication in the Official Gazette and restore the emergency decree to complete the legislative framework to promote the use of energy from renewable sources, blaming the fact that the PSD-PNL government issued the evening before the National Day Off – an emergency decree that “invents a new tax in the midst of the energy crisis: a tax on the sun”.

According to a USR press release, the “solar tax” targets citizens and companies that have invested in photovoltaic panels, generate electricity and consume it in their own home or business.

“Citizens and companies will be obliged by the state to install special meters, different from the meters connected to the national energy networks, just to be able to receive payment for the energy they produce, as well as the energy they consume,” the press release states. .

In this context, Christian Guinea, coordinator of the Public Policy Department of the USR, states that this measure was taken by the government to protect the “monopoly and limited market of energy companies”.

“Romania is a European country that wants to switch to green energy as much as possible. We also get a lot of European money for it, which PSD and PNL cannot invest. Now they invent a new tax to stop Romanians from becoming consumers. Why? Because the monopoly and non-free market of state-owned energy companies must be protected. Even at the cost of sacrificing energy production at the height of the energy crisis,” says Christian Guinea.

In view of the above, the USR requests the publication in the Official Gazette of this emergency regulation, believing that it jeopardizes the entire objectives of investment in renewable energy.

“The state should encourage citizens and companies to become consumers and eliminate bureaucracy in this area. Accumulating the small power of many, we will be able to ensure the energy independence of the country faster and increase the energy export potential. In recent years, 23,785 prosumers have built installations with a capacity of more than 213 MW. This is the largest energy investment in Romania in recent years, made by many citizens and companies with their own money: more than 200 million euros (estimate),” the statement said.

Instead, USR officials say, the Ministry of Energy cannot use European money from two important funding sources: “€500 million from the PNRR (with USR approval) for photovoltaic panels; 1.4 billion euros from Romania, EU Modernization Fund”.

On Tuesday, the government approved an emergency decree to finalize the legal framework to promote the use of energy from renewable sources, executive spokesman Dan Carbonaru said.

“This regulatory act contributed to the achievement of the goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the most cost-effective way, with the help of energy mixes with the specific capacity of energy production from renewable sources, which our country has. In addition, to promote the use of energy from renewable sources, during the following years until 2030, the implementation of investment projects is accelerated, which are carried out at the expense of the funding provided for by the National Plan for Recovery and Sustainability, component 6, respectively the energy component,” Cărbunaru stated in a press conference in the Victoria Palace.

With the same regulatory act, he added, the emergency decree establishes schemes for supporting energy from renewable sources, stability of financial support, calculation of the share of energy from renewable sources, as well as a simple notification procedure for connecting installations to the grid. alongside the introduction of large-scale use of renewable energy in sectors such as transport, consumers or communities using renewable energy.

Source: Agerpres