The cancellation of the declaration by the place of consumption does not cancel the application of the electricity price cap for the individual place of consumption for the period December 16, 2022 – December 31, 2022, creating a blockage in the billing process for the month of December 2022, says Dumitru Ciselice, president of the Intelligent Energy Association.

According to Romanian officials a few days ago, “no law has retroactive effect”, an aspect reinforced by the position of the Constitutional Court, which shows that the retroactive effect of any law is unconstitutional. Therefore, GEO 192/28 December 2022, which abolished the declaration of self-responsibility for those with multiple places of consumption, enters into force on 1 January 2023, when it can enter into force – i.e. declarations for multiple places of consumption are not mandatory , and the limit is applied regardless of the number of places of consumption.

Until then, the laws remain in force as they were written, from December 16 to December 31, 2022, respectively, the price restriction applies to one place of consumption, for other places of consumption the customer does not receive benefits, according to the legislation in force for this period (Law 357/2022), the maximum price.

The Law on Limiting Energy Prices (Law 357/2022), which enters into force on December 16, 2022, establishes in Article 1, Clause 10 “In the case of household consumers, the final price in the invoice provided for in clause (1) lit. a) and b) apply only to the places of consumption at home/residence of final consumers.”, respectively, consumers can benefit from the limitation of the price of electricity for only one place of consumption.

This article has been removed by the new GEO, which applies from January 1, 2023, but for the period from December 16 to 31, 2022, Law 357/2022 has entered into force and must be applied, that is, the ceiling price will only be granted for only one place of consumption during this period and apply a different price during this period.

The same law in article 1, paragraph 1, letter a) of Law 357/2022 says that it benefits from a maximum capped price of “0.68 lei/kWh, including VAT, for consumption made between September 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022. household consumers whose average monthly consumption at the point of consumption in 2021 is from 0 to 100 kWh inclusive. […]”, accordingly, taking into account that the law applies from December 16, 2022 (3 days after the publication in the Official Gazette of Law 357/2022 of December 13, 2022), from that date only those that have a safe place of consumption.

Given that GEO 192 amending Law 357/2022, which suspends this restriction on the provision of a ceiling price at a single point of consumption, applies only from January 1, 2023, this means that from December 16 to 31, 2022, all electricity consumers , which have more than one place of consumption must pay a different price than the limited price in the second, third, etc. place of consumption, and this must be determined, in addition to the difficulty of determining the quantity consumed by each customer who falls into this situation (period 1- December 15, 2022, period December 16-31, 2022) and setting the price at which they must pay for energy consumed in the period December 16-31, 2022.

The case of consumers who have more than one place of consumption and consumed less than 100 kWh/month on average in 2021.

According to Art. 1, paragraph 1, letter g) of Law 357/2022, the maximum price “1.3 lei/kWh, including VAT, for domestic and non-domestic consumers not provided for in letters a)-e)” cannot be applied to customers , which are subject to Art. 1, par. 1, summer and). from Law 357/2022, i.e. if the customer had an average consumption of less than 100 kWh in 2021. But this customer cannot use the price of 0.68 lei/kWh including VAT, per second, third, etc. place of consumption.

Thus, a consumer with two places of consumption who had an average consumption below 100 kWh in both in 2021, between December 16 and 31, 2022, can no longer benefit from the price cap of 0.68 lei/kWh including VAT in both places , can benefit only at the place of consumption where he resides (accepting ANRE specifications). At the same time, it cannot benefit from the capped price of 1.3 lei/kWh in the second place of consumption, since it falls under the consumption of less than 100 kWh. We understand that if a price cap cannot be applied, the price in the contract applies to places of consumption other than the home (ie prices from 2 to 5 lei/kWh including VAT).

Consumers who have more than one place of consumption and who in 2021 consumed an average of 100 to 300 kWh/month and have a maximum monthly consumption of 255 kWh.

A customer who has the second largest consumption and consumed an average of 100 to 300 kWh/month in 2021, with a current maximum monthly consumption of 255 kWh/month, cannot benefit from the price of 0.8 lei/kWh with VAT, for the second place of consumption in the period from December 16 to 31, 2022.

But, according to Article 1, paragraph 1, letter g) of Law 357/2022, the maximum price of “1.3 lei/kWh, including VAT, for domestic and non-domestic consumers, which are not provided for in a)-e)”, cannot be applied to clients subject to Art. 1, par. 1, summer b). from Law 357/2022, respectively, if the customer had an average consumption of 100 to 300 kWh/month in 2021 with a maximum monthly consumption of 255 kWh/month.

Thus, a consumer with two places of consumption who had an average consumption in both in 2021 of 100 to 300 kWh/month, with a maximum monthly consumption of 255 kWh/month, can no longer use the benefit for the period 16 to 31 December 2022, the marginal price of 0.68 lei/kWh with VAT in both places, can benefit only in the place of consumption where he lives (accepting ANRE specifications).

At the same time, it cannot benefit from the capped price of 1.3 lei/kWh in the second place of consumption, because it falls under the consumption in 2021 between 100-300 kWh/month, with a maximum monthly consumption of 255 kWh/month. We understand that if the price cap cannot be applied, the contractual price (ie prices from 2 to 5 lei/kWh including VAT) is applied to other places of consumption (except the place of residence).

Consumers who have more than one place of consumption and consumed in 2021 an average of 100 to 300 kWh/month and have a monthly consumption of more than 255 kWh

A customer who has the second place of consumption and consumed an average of 100 to 300 kWh/month in 2021, with a monthly consumption of more than 255 kWh/month, cannot take advantage of the price of 0.8 lei/kWh with VAT for second place of consumption from December 16 to 31, 2022 for the consumption range of 0-255 kWh.

But, according to Article 1, paragraph 1, letter g) of Law 357/2022, the maximum price is “1.3 lei/kWh, including VAT, for household and non-household consumers, which are not provided for in a)-e)”, cannot be applied to clients subject to Art. 1, par. 1, summer b), respectively, if the customer had an average consumption of 100 to 300 kWh/month in 2021 with a monthly consumption of more than 255 kWh/month.

According to Article 1, paragraph 1, letter b) of Law 357/2022, if the average consumption in 2021 was 100 – 300 kWh/month, and the monthly consumption exceeds 255 kWh/month, the provisions of Article 5, paragraph 1 of the law 357/2022, respectively, the average purchase price of the supplier with the relevant tariffs and court fees shall apply.

But, reading part 1 of article 5 of Law 357/2022, it can be seen that it only applies to the period “January 1, 2023 – March 31, 2025”, in other words, in December 2022, the average electricity purchase price cannot be applied for consumption over 255 kWh/month and remains applicable for this case also during the period 16 – 31 December 2022, the price in the contract as the price applicable to other places of consumption (except the place of residence) (ie prices from 2 to 5 lei/kWh with VAT).

Consumers who have more than one place of consumption and consumed an average of more than 300 kWh/month in 2021.

The customer with the second largest consumption and in 2021 consumed more than 300 kWh/month on average.

according to Art. 1, paragraph 1, letter g) of Law 357/2022, the maximum price “1.3 lei/kWh, including VAT, will be applied to household and non-household consumers, which are not provided for in letters a)-d)”.

Centralizing the prices we estimate the consumer will pay in December 2022 for the second, third consumption, etc., they are presented according to the average consumption in 2021 and the current consumption in 2022 as follows:

Specifically, for a consumer who lives in Bucharest and has several places of consumption and has a price of 3.999 lei/kWh VAT included in the contract, he will have to pay in December 2022 for the second, third, etc. place of consumption depending on the average consumption in 2021 year and consumption in 2022 the following amounts: