Some Hidroelectrica customers whose contracts expire in April have received offers to extend them for the next 12 months. However, the price offered by the company is not valid for the entire duration of the contract, but only until March 31, 2025 (the date that coincides with the expiration of the state price cap scheme). Thus, there will be a period of several weeks when people will not know what price they will pay. When contacted by HotNews.ro, company representatives say that it was a mistake and they are sending corrected messages, but people have not received anything.

Cristina P. is a household electricity consumer from Bucharest. On March 4, it received notice from its electricity supplier, Hidroelectrica, to extend its contract for 12 months, which ends on April 20.

However, the price offered by Hidroelectrica does not cover the entire 12-month period, but is valid only until March 31, 2023, when the state-imposed compensation cap scheme ends.

“The current commercial conditions in your electricity supply contract no. (…) are valid until 20.04.2024, the date until which the price of active electricity is guaranteed, specified in the current appendix to the contract. In accordance with the provisions of your supply contract, we submit a proposal to amend Appendix No. 2, with the price of energy carriers until 03/31/2025 starting from 04/21/2024. Other terms of the contract remain unchanged,” the company said in a statement.

The same is written in the message received by Maria B., who lives in a commune in Sibiu County. Her contract expires on April 18, and if she extends it for 12 months, she will also have several weeks in April 2025 where she does not know what price she will pay.

Hidroelectrica says the reports were incorrect

When contacted by HotNews.ro, representatives of Hidroelectrica said that this was a mistake, that there should not have been such a period when customers do not know the estimated price, and that, in fact, the price is valid until the end of the contract.

“There was a group of notifications with this error. New corrected messages have been sent to the affected customers,” company representatives added.

However, none of the consumers I spoke with had received a new communication about this from Hidroelectrica by the time this article was published.

The deadline of 31 March 2025 is when the current bill capping and compensation scheme, enacted by the state through GEO 27/2022, expires.

But this does not mean that energy market players do not know what the prices will be after this deadline, as companies secure their energy in advance.

During this period, companies buy energy for the entire year 2025, and the prices in these contracts are lower than the prices currently regulated by the state, e-nergia.ro writes.

In addition, the GEO project, which provides for the extension of the restriction scheme until March 31, 2026, spread in the public space the other day, InvesTenergy.ro reports.

Hidroelectrica, the champion supplier for fines

Over the past two years, Hidroelectrica’s clients have had various problems related to calculations for the consumed electricity.

And in January, the company sent erroneous offers to customers, which it later corrected. The supplier did not update the distribution tariffs changed by NARE as of January 1.

According to the data provided by ANRE at the request of HotNews.ro, in the period 2022-2023, the institution carried out nine control activities on this company in order to verify:

• the procedure for concluding contracts for the supply of electricity, the procedure for concluding contracts for the purchase and sale of electricity from consumers;
• the method of changing the electricity supplier by the final consumer;
• invoicing period and invoicing period, respectively;
• response time to customer requests;
• provision/presentation of data, documents and/or information requested by NARE, necessary for the proper performance of its activities.

As a result of these control actions, fines totaling 1,070,000 lei were imposed on Hidroelectrica.

At the moment, NARE carries out two control activities with the object of inspection:

the billing period for end users is from July 1 to December 31, 2023;

compliance with the efficiency standard for electricity supply activities in the period from July 1 to December 31, 2023.

Alarmed by the large number of violations, ANRE summoned Hidroelectrica for a discussion

What ANRE says:

“We draw attention to the fact that in 2023 NARE registered the largest number of petitions in the last 3 years regarding the activities of “Hydroelectricity”, respectively 7,859 petitions.

In this context, on February 15, 2024, a meeting between representatives of NARE and the supplier Hidroelectrica was organized at the headquarters of NARE to determine the necessary measures for the urgent elimination of the contested situations.

The main aspects that the customers complain about and which were the subject of discussion with the supplier’s representatives relate to the supply activities carried out by him in relation to:

• failure to issue electricity bills to end users (including consumers)
• for invoices issued – their content: establishment of consumption, distribution of payments, balance, planning and collection of fines
• non-compliance with the statutory deadline for notification of the distribution operator on the conclusion of the pro-customer contract
• delays in responding to customer complaints and failure to provide compensation.

ANRE’s commitment to protect consumers and promote a fair and transparent market must also be matched by honest actions by suppliers and network operators.”