Large industrial consumers in Romania would pay less for energy if they bought energy directly from producers. There is a special platform for these auctions on the energy exchange, but producers are not yet interested in selling electricity directly to large consumers.

“Industry is a big consumer of energy. Therefore, savings measures should start from this. We have provided some recommendations to Member States to achieve the 15% reduction target in the industrial sector while ensuring the smooth functioning of society and value chains. For example, member states could set up auctions or auction systems to encourage industry to reduce energy consumption,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in an interview with Hotnews.ro last month.

In other words, it is important that member countries help industry to reduce energy bills and consumption, and this will also help the public.

The auctions mentioned by the European official are already regulated in Romania. This is a special platform on the OPCOM energy exchange and another on the Romanian Commodity Exchange called Platforms for Large Consumers, where industrial consumers can buy electricity directly from producers. This will reduce the invoice as intermediaries and traders who also set their own specific mark-ups will be excluded from the scheme.

Prices are lower than on the market

However, the problem is that only a few transactions have been made on these platforms. The one that existed on OPCOM for many years without any agreement was first sold to Hidroelectrica Distribuţie Energie Oltenia in June this year. This comes after energy distribution companies were also granted the right to buy power directly from producers on this platform alongside large consumers at the start of the year. The closing price of the auction was 790 lei per MWh, which is below the market price.

Also in June of this year, four BRM auctions were completed, all with Alro Slatina as buyer and Nuclearelectrica as seller. Similarly, prices were below 1,000 lei per MWh, i.e. below market prices.

“Almost 36% below the closing price of the foreign market EEX German Power Future electricity for July 2023 was traded on 17.06.2022 on the Great Consumer Market (PMC). Even yesterday (June 23 – no) a huge amount of electricity for delivery in 2023 was sold on the same market, about 400 lei/MWh below the selling price on the local PC-OTC market and about 300 lei/MWh below , than the closing prices of the same foreign market,” says the analysis published in June on the website of the energy consulting company Partnerg-i.

Thus, it is clear that operations in this market have the effect of lowering bills for large industrial consumers. Then companies will have more money to invest in energy efficiency and reduce consumption, as Ursula von der Leyen says.

Why weren’t there more transactions on PMC

Although the Platform for Large Consumers (PMC) has existed for several years on the OPCOM energy exchange, no deal had been concluded there until this summer.

The OPCOM archive shows that over the years, Alro Slatina, which is also the largest electricity consumer in Romania, has made several attempts to buy energy on this platform, but no producer has responded to the industrial company’s requests.

Only large end-users who buy energy exclusively for their own consumption can register as a buyer on this platform. Energy producers, as well as operators of storage services, can act as sellers.

Seven buyers (Alro, Silcotub, Delgaz, Distribuţie Oltenia, Transelectrica, Distribuţie Energie Electrică and OMV Petrom) and three sellers (Hidroelectrica, Nuclearelectrica and OMV Petrom) are currently registered on the PMC platform on OPCOM.

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