Romanians’ electricity and gas bills are limited until March 31, 2025, but we must prepare very well for the moment of the return to the free market so that consumers do not feel a shock, says ANRE president. Since the decision is political, next election year the authorities will have to choose between two situations: either openly talk about the free market and prepare people for price increases, or remain silent and let consumers suffer. surprise.

“Withdrawal of the support scheme should be done in such a way as not to cause turmoil in the market. When the support scheme was implemented, we saw several extraordinary orders because things were filled as they went, more than seven orders that came in a row to implement the support scheme. Obviously, the process of exiting the scheme should be such as not to cause shocks in the market. It is very important that we hold discussions with market participants in the period before this, so that consumers, very importantly, do not feel any shock,” said George Niculescu, president of the National Energy Regulatory Authority, during a profile conference. hosted by DC News.

These discussions should take place at the level of the entire market: ministry, regulator, parliament, commissions, manufacturers, suppliers, distributors.

“Obviously it’s not an easy task, so I think next year we can create such a discussion. Not to mention the security of supply, we don’t worry about it anymore, we got assurances from the ministry that we won’t have any problems in winter. The narrative tends to go back to the market, to the price, we’re talking about going back to a market that no longer contains a regulated price. No one wants household consumers to have high prices in their bills after the expiration of the order,” added the NARE representative.

According to him, this is the context in which Romania is increasing its production capacity.

“For nine months of the year, the export of energy carriers increased by 63%. We can see that we are moving towards increased production capacity, we can see it in the number of construction permits that we issue. Only last week we approved the capacity of 130 MW, so things are moving from the production side,” Niculescu also said.