The President of the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE), George Niculescu, announced on Thursday that the institution he heads has imposed sanctions of 18 million lei on three large energy suppliers that allegedly did not comply with the provisions of GEO 27/2022 regarding the scheme of capping – compensation. In particular, they would purchase energy at a capped price in excess of what they needed for consumers in their portfolio and resell the excess in other markets.

George Niculescu refused to answer persistent questions from the press about who these suppliers were, although he announced the fines at a press conference.

The largest fine received by the supplier was 14.4 million lei

“Regarding electricity suppliers who purchased a certain amount of electricity in the Centralized Electricity Purchase Mechanism (MACEE), where the price is 450 lei/MWh, at which producers are required to sell and end-user suppliers are required to buy, we had an analysis done The monitoring department and we observed commercial companies that purchased more energy than the supply portfolio they had,” Niculescu said.

Control actions ended with a proposal to the Regulatory Committee to apply sanctions to five companies, two of which received a warning. The other three received a fine of 1% of the turnover: one supplier received 14.4 million lei, another supplier – 1.45 million lei, the third – 2.3 million lei.

Niculescu clarified that these additional volumes were sold on “other markets”.

Further investigations are pending

As a reminder, HotNews.ro exclusively wrote a series of articles about the rise in gas and electricity prices, while they are falling on European markets, and about how the state subsidizes the huge profits of suppliers.

Regarding the other non-compliance cases of GEO 27/2022 regarding the energy price cap and compensation scheme, NARE president said that the results will be made public when they are finalized.

HotNews.ro recently wrote that ANRE fully controls 6 large electricity suppliers, 3 major gas suppliers, as well as traders. According to the answers sent to HotNews.ro’s request, ANRE noticed that some suppliers reported high values ​​in contracts with end consumers, and the amount of energy was sold consistently in order to increase the price. Companies risk receiving a fine of up to 5% of turnover.

In total, for the period from 01.01.2023 to 30.10.2023, 18 control actions were carried out at business entities to check compliance with the provisions of National Law No. 1. 27/2022 regarding the energy price cap-compensation scheme.

Inspections are carried out at:

• 6 suppliers whose subject of control is the procedure for setting the maximum price for non-household consumers;
• 4 suppliers that have a control theme of adhering to a limited price in standard offers addressed to consumers in competitive markets, SU, FUI.
• 4 suppliers who have, as a subject of control, how to forecast monthly consumption and additional consumption, as well as how to change the monthly forecast of additional quantities in case of differences of more than 2% between the additional quantity and the forecast,
• 4 control measures at suppliers and traders of electric energy to check compliance with the prohibition provided for in Art. 16 para. (7^4) from GEO no. 27/2022, there are signs of successive sales of certain volumes of electricity with the clear aim of increasing the price.
• 3 control actions of natural gas suppliers regarding compliance with the final price set by natural gas suppliers, in accordance with the provisions of Art. 2 para. (4) GEO 27/2022.

ANRE noted “high values ​​reported by some suppliers”

The controls concern how the provisions of GEO 27/2022 regarding the maximum compensation scheme for electricity and gas prices have been complied with.

In the course of carrying out a special activity for monitoring the electricity market, NARE revealed high values ​​of some suppliers as average prices under supply contracts concluded with end consumers in the months of the first half of 2023, it is noted. in ANRE’s response to HotNews.ro.

Consecutive sale of quantities of electricity to increase the price

With regard to the control activities carried out by NARE, in the field of electric power, control actions have been initiated against some suppliers and traders to check compliance with the prohibition provided for in Art. 16 para. (7^4) from GEO no. 27/2022, there are signs of successive sales of certain volumes of electricity with the clear aim of increasing the price.

Consecutive sale of a certain amount of electricity or natural gas by traders and/or suppliers engaged in trading activities, with the explicit purpose of increasing the price, is sanctioned by NARE, with a fine of 5% of the turnover, specified in Art. . 16 para. (7^4) from GEO no. 27/2022.

“The specified control actions are ongoing, and we cannot make public the preliminary or partial aspects. After the control actions are completed, the conclusions, as well as possible applied sanctions and assigned measures, will be made public,” NARE said.

For more information, also read:

• Who are the businessmen and companies that benefited from the energy crisis in Romania / The supplier had a turnover of 18,346% and a profit of 3,298%
  
• High electricity and gas price scandal: ANRE controls six major electricity suppliers, three main major gas suppliers and some traders