Electricity distribution tariffs will increase by 6% from January 1, ANRE Vice President Gabriel Andronash announced today. The increase is lower than what the distributors asked for (10-20%). They demanded higher tariffs, arguing they needed investment to strengthen the grid to successfully take on customers and major renewable energy projects in the pipeline. The spread fee is approximately 10% of the final bill, so the impact on the final price is 0.6%. In addition, there is a limit on bills for consumers, so the difference will be paid from the state budget during the next year.

“We have had conversations with distributors, and from their point of view, there are more requests for certain activities that they do, for which they want more money. In addition, they could, in turn, make the investments a little more calculated, especially in the transport sector, so that if the network, if it was developed and strengthened in stages, there would no longer be this debate with the takeover by prosumers. Andronache said at the ZF Energy conference.

He added that negotiations have not yet been completed, but the increase will be around 6%.

According to HotNews.ro, the percentage proposed by the ANRE representative is 10-20% lower than the one demanded by the distribution operators.

The distribution tariff is about 10% of the final bill paid by consumers.

At the moment, the bills are limited by law until March 2025, and the difference between the limit and the real price is covered by the state budget.

Why companies demanded higher distribution rates

Two weeks ago, Volker Raffel, CEO of E.ON Romania, said in a conversation with HotNews.ro that hundreds of millions of euros of network investment are needed in a short period of time to capture the entire network. projects in the pipeline plus consumers.

“We can make these investments with bank loans and with European money from the Modernization Fund. To receive money from the Modernization Fund, we must have 20% co-financing. We are negotiating with NARE to increase the distribution tariff so that we can cover this 20%, otherwise we will lose this European money.

The spread fee should increase by 10-20%, but since the spread fee is somewhere around 10% of the bill, that means a maximum of 2% for the final price. It is without a ceiling. If we apply a cap, it does not affect the price consumers pay. With the help of this 2%, it is possible to mobilize both capital and European funds, so we will not be able to finance projects worth hundreds of millions of euros in a short period,” said the representative of E.ON.

This would mean an increase in spending from the state budget to pay bills.

“I know it’s an election year and it’s hard to explain any price increase, but if the tariff isn’t enough, we won’t be able to get loans. It is clear that no bank will do this. It would be a shame to make this decision only a year and a half after the elections, because we are losing this European money. Every day we receive connection requests from prosumers, and the problem needs to be solved,” Raffel also noted.