​The emergency decree allows ANRE to charge consumers, starting on December 1, 2026, if their capacity exceeds 8% of the total energy production capacity in Romania. Two years ago, when the resolution was adopted, the Government clarified that it did not intend to apply it, but rather it was about the adoption of a European directive. Now the Association of Prosumers a brought the discussion of the “sun tax” back into the public space.and Energy Minister Sebastian Burdugia says he will remove it if he receives a response from the European Commission that there is no risk of a breach.

“Solar tax” means the introduction of a tax on own consumption of electricity, that is, energy produced by consumers and consumed by them for their needs.

Briefly about what the legislation says:

• GEO 163/2022 states in article 21, paragraph 3: the bodies of the central public administration and ANRE may apply non-discriminatory and proportional taxes and tariffs to consumers, starting from December 1, 2026, if the capacity installed in prosumer power plants exceeds 8% of the total installed power
• This fee may be applied following a cost-benefit analysis carried out by ANRE.

Two years ago, when the decree appeared, public opinion was outraged that the authorities wanted to charge people for using the sun to produce energy for their own consumption, hence the name “solar tax”.

At the time, the government explained that this is actually the adoption of a European directive, which says that states have the right to introduce this tax to limit the danger of imbalance in the network, but there is no intention that Romania will charge this type of fee to consumers.

A month ago, this topic was raised in the public space by the Association of Consumers and Communities of Energy Resources (APCE), which asked the authorities to completely remove this paragraph from the law, so that there is no risk of introducing this tax.

Dan Pearson, president of APCE, said he has sent a letter to the European Commission to clarify whether there is a provision in European law that obliges Romania to introduce this tax.

“The European Commission’s answer is clear and unequivocal: Article 21(3) is a ‘may’ clause, which means that transposition by Member States is optional. Therefore, the Commission does not consider the incomplete transposition of this type of provision to be a breach of the Directive,” says Pearson.

“Therefore, the introduction of the “sun tax” is not a measure of the European Union, but a decision of Romanian politicians. It is serious that the institutions responsible for the development of the legislative framework did not understand the meaning of this European directive,” added the representative of prosumers.

Now, faced with the risk of a re-ignition of this scandal, Energy Minister Sebastián Burduha has also sent the same request to the Brussels authorities.

“We want to make sure that there is no risk that Romania will face an infringement procedure that will lead to the payment of fines,” Burduja told HotNews.ro.

“If the European Commission answers that there is no risk of violation, we will remove the rule that allows the introduction of this tax. We will come either with an emergency order or with an initiative in the parliament,” said the minister.

We are approaching 8%, which allows us to charge pro-consumers

At the same time, the president of ANRE, George Niculescu, said that the institution he represents cannot change the legislation.

“ANRE does not have the authority to change emergency orders. NARE will respect the legislation of that time,” he said, recalling that we are talking about the year 2026.

Currently, according to ANRE, there are more than 110,000 consumers in Romania with an installed capacity of around 1,400 MW, and this trend is increasing.

The total installed power generation capacity nationally is 18,000 MW, so consumers account for about 7.5% of that total, and the 8% share of the regulation that allows charging will soon be reached.

Prosumers say that NARE is already preparing to charge them

On the other hand, representatives of prosumers go further and claim that despite the assurances of the Government that it will not introduce the so-called “solar tax”, NARE has already prepared the infrastructure for calculating own consumption at the expense of consumers: a few additional meters.

“In order to be able to get a connection certificate as a prosumer, you need to additionally add a sealed switchboard with fuses. In this sealed panel, it is necessary to install a meter to measure own consumption. In some cases, this counter has already been installed,” says the Association of Prosumers – APSE.

What is the role of these counters?

In order to comply with European legislation on energy consumption reporting, ANRE has issued a regulation requiring the installation of meters to measure energy consumption from renewable sources, i.e. self-consumption by consumers.

This data is necessary for the further consolidation and reporting of data on the consumption of energy from renewable sources at the national level.

The meters will be installed at the expense of the distributor sources, but the protective panels are manufactured at the expense of the consumer.

According to representatives of APCE, such a picture costs somewhere from 300 to 500 lei.

Now there is a crisis in the meter market, distributors are installing this equipment in stages, depending on the purchases they make. This explains why some prosumers already have these counters and others do not.

The representatives of prosumers are also intrigued by the fact that they were not accepted for a discussion at NARE to clarify issues related to these meters and other problems of prosumers, although they sent a request for an audience a month ago.

In general, even if the Government now withdraws from the legislation the rule that allows the introduction of this tax from December 2026, there is no certainty that the tax will not be introduced again using the same methods.