Recent changes to the energy law in parliament, according to which consumers get more benefits, violate the European regulation 943/2019. We are talking about the norm in the law, according to which consumers will not be paid for imbalances with a capacity of up to 900 kW. According to European regulations, this is possible only for devices with a power of up to 400 kW. The Ministry of Energy and NARE are already thinking about how to solve the situation. The law is on the desk of President Klaus Iohannis for promulgation.

All market participants are responsible for the imbalances they cause in the system, according to Article 5 of Regulation 943/2019 of the European Parliament on the internal electricity market.

“Each balancing party bears financial responsibility for its imbalances and makes efforts to balance or contribute to the balancing of the energy system,” the document states.

In addition, part 2 of the same article states that Member States may provide for an exemption from balancing responsibility only for electricity production facilities using renewable energy sources with an installed electricity production capacity of less than 400 kW.

Two weeks ago, the parliament voted on a law that violates this provision:

“Clause (3) of Article 21 has been amended and will have the following content: (3) The responsibility for balancing does not apply to consumers with an established power generation capacity of less than 900 kW. Balancing is the responsibility of their supplier, according to ANRE rules.

A 900 kW PV plant is much larger than a home consumer needs for their own consumption, and may even be sufficient for a factory. For comparison, an installation for a house is rented on average from 3 to 15 kW (15 kW means about 80 square meters of panels).

The Ministry of Energy and NARE are thinking about how to solve the situation

The article of the law, which grants these benefits to those with 900 kW installations, was introduced through an amendment voted by the economic commissions on the same day as the final vote in the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies (November 14).

The amendment was signed by Alfred Simonis, MP PSD, and Sandor Bende, MP UDMR, without any motivation.

“ANRE submitted its comments on this law to the parliament, but in its original form,” said Viorel Alikush, director of the institution.

Now NARE has to develop rules for the application of this law and is analyzing how to change the regulatory act so as not to distort the market either financially or technically.

“The Ministry of Energy, in agreement with NARE, can take a legislative initiative to amend this law. We are waiting from ANRE to see the scale of the problem,” said, for his part, Energy Minister Sebastien Bourduilla.

He also said that already at the level of the National Energy Dispatcher, prosumers are creating imbalances that are difficult to adjust, and the right prosumers, that is, people who have installed panels for their own consumption, are suffering from big business losses.

The law will be promulgated by President Klaus Iohannis.

Romania currently has approximately 100,000 consumers with an installed capacity of almost 1,300 MW.

Read also: A poisoned gift for prosumers: how the benefits of the law can backfire