Enel is one of the most important companies in the Romanian energy market with 3 million customers throughout the country. They were, of course, wondering what the news, which was all over the media today, that Enel plans to leave Romania next year, means for them.

In theory, they will be taken over by whoever buys Enel’s Romanian operations, so it should be a quiet transfer of contracts. However, practically a new company is not obliged to take on contracts that it considers unprofitable.

Currently, for household consumers and SMEs, a price cap is set by the state, which compensates suppliers for the difference between the maximum price and the price, also set by the authorities, of 1,300 lei per MWh (which is below the market price). In addition, the state had long delays in paying these bills during the year. Therefore, contracts with these consumers can be considered unprofitable.

If the new buyer does not want to take over the contracts of Enel’s customers, they are automatically transferred to the supplier of last resort, which is a supplier from among the existing ones on the market, which is established monthly by the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE).

The absorption of so many contracts by another supplier would turn the entire market on its head

None of the current providers have this capability. The solution is for this problem to be discussed in time by the Romanian authorities with those who would like to buy Enel’s activities in Romania.

Kiritsoyu: “The owner changes, the company does not disappear”

The authorities hastened to assure the people that this operation would not affect them. “The owner changes, the company does not disappear,” said Bohdan Chiritsoyu, president of the Competition Council.

“I will give you an example of CEZ, which is still called CEZ, although the owner is no longer a Czech company, but an Australian investment fund located in London. But clients have a contract with CEZ and receive CEZ services. There is no reason why the sale will affect customers. A company exit is not a tragedy in itself, companies come and go. Again, at CEZ I thought the change went well, I didn’t see any changes in the market. I don’t understand why Enel’s exit should be treated differently than CEZ’s exit,” added Chiritsou.

For their part, NARE representatives made a statement in which they claim that the continuity of electricity and gas supply will not be interrupted, in accordance with current legislation.

“In the event that any entity operating in the electricity/natural gas supply sector exits the Romanian market, the end consumers of electricity/natural gas will be provided with an uninterrupted supply of electricity/natural gas, as in the case it can be,” ANRE notes.

Why is Enel leaving?

“We have decided to exit Romania because we have reached a point where it is difficult for us to achieve further growth in the future,” Enel CEO Francesco Starace said at a press conference this afternoon.

He emphasized that the reason for leaving is not the legal framework in Romania, which is no better and no worse than many others. Starace also said that now is a good time to capitalize on assets in Romania.