The National Bank of Romania (BNR) signed an agreement this month with Hidroelectrica to supply electricity to its buildings. The contract, worth more than 11.1 million lei, was concluded through negotiations after the BNR did not receive any bid in 3 other award procedures started earlier.

The contract with Hidroelectrica was signed by the NBR on January 6, 2023 and, according to the Electronic System of Public Procurement, covers:

• “ensuring the continuity of the electricity supply to the buildings of the BNR, located in the city of Bucharest, str. 2, Lady No. 8, Lipscani no. 16, Lipscani no. Negru-Vode street, 25, No. Negru Voda, 3, No. 4-6 and Dr. Stajkovichi no. 42 – 48 CPPAS, str. 37-39 Kumpetu microdistrict, Prahova district – UPPAS Sinaia, Lăcrămioarelor str. 88, Snagov, Ilfov county – Villa Snagov, UPPAS Păltiniș, street Principală Villa no. 4, Sibiu County, as well as for all territorial structures, departments and agencies.”

How BNR explains why it concluded the contract through negotiations, and not through a tender

The National Bank explains in the Electronic State Procurement System (SEAP) the reason why it awarded this contract to Hidroelectrica through negotiations:

“According to Art. 104 para. (1) lit. a) from Law No. 98/2016 “The customer has the right to apply the negotiation procedure without prior publication of the notice of participation for concluding a public procurement contract/framework agreement for works, products or services in one of the following cases:

• a) if no offer/request for participation is submitted or only inappropriate offers/requests for participation are submitted in an open tender, a limited tender or a simplified procedure organized for the purchase of relevant products, services or works, provided that the initial terms of purchase are not significantly are changed, and a report is sent to the European Commission at its request.

• Given the fact that The National Bank of Romania held an open tenderand as a result of the SEAP award process, no bid has been submitted, the procedure chosen for the award of the contract in accordance with the legal provisions previously set out is negotiation without prior publication of a tender notice.
• We clarify that before the procedure of open bidding two more awarding procedures were held contract through the Romanian Commodity Exchange, but no offer was submitted for them.

The National Bank of Romania early initiated the contract award procedure and had in mind the implementation of price adjustment mechanisms to make it easier for bidders to execute the contract on good terms.

Also, updated prices were taken into account in the assessment of the contract value by indexing the price per MWh to the current value on the free market. Even under these conditions, there was no interest from business entities.” BNR emphasizes.

Hidroelectrica, overwhelmed by the large number of customers, switched from other suppliers

Hidroelectrica, Romania’s largest electricity producer with the lowest electricity prices, was overwhelmed by the large number of switchers, unable to cope with the huge number of customers, which blocked the billing system.

Not only individuals, but also public institutions (including the government) receive electricity from Hidroelectrica and have delays in paying their bills.

7 companies fined 380,000 lei for late issuance of electricity bills

In November 2022, 7 companies, including Hidroelectrica, were fined 380,000 lei by ANRE for late electricity bills, namely:

• Electricity supply – 120,000 lei
• Hydroelectric plant – 70,000 lei
• CEZ Sale – 60,000 lei
• E.ON Energie Romania – 50,000 lei
• Enel Energy – 50,000 lei
• Enel Energie Muntenia – 30,000 lei

Hidroelectrica announced this month that it will send its customers bills in early February. This comes after Romanians who have power supply contracts with Hidroelectrica no longer received bills for consumption in June since October.

If the payment amount is too high, people will also be able to pay the bill in installments, but this will require an application, the company said. The request can be sent to the e-mail address [email protected] or submitted to the offices of Hidroelectrica.

The payment can be spread over a maximum of 6 monthly installments of equal amounts, and during the installment period current bills must be paid together with the installment payments.

A sample application for residential customers is available here, and a typical application form for non-residential customers is available here.