The ACUE Federation warns that the budget allocation of 3.75 billion lei foreseen for 2026 is insufficient to cover the state’s outstanding obligations towards energy suppliers, generated by the price capping scheme applied to consumers.

According to data publicly announced by ANRE, the total value of settlement requests submitted by suppliers amounted to approximately 9.5 billion lei as of January 2026. The ACUE Federation estimates that the effective payment arrears are approximately 6 billion lei, given that, in 2025, the state made advance payments of up to 40% of the value of the requests submitted and under evaluation.

This situation should be realistically reflected in the budget for 2026, so that outstanding obligations can be paid within a reasonable period.

At the time of adoption of the support schemes, the legislation provided for a 45-day deadline for the payment of amounts due, calculated from the submission of the settlement file. Subsequently, due to the delays registered, the state unilaterally eliminated the provisions regarding the evaluation and payment deadlines.

Currently, most of the requests confirmed by ANRE and fully paid by the state concern price reductions pre-financed by suppliers as early as January-February 2024, which means that the initial 45-day deadline has turned, in practice, into a period of approximately two years.

“The price cap scheme was a necessary public policy measure to protect consumers, but its costs cannot be transferred indefinitely to suppliers. The state must respect its commitments and ensure the payment of amounts due within a reasonable period,” argues Dana Daraban, executive director.

Despite repeated efforts to identify solutions that would accelerate the analysis process at ANRE level and, implicitly, the payment of amounts through the Ministry of Energy, for non-household consumers, and the Ministry of Labor, for household consumers, during the period December 2025 – March 2026 the values ​​confirmed by ANRE were almost non-existent.

The situation is also aggravated by the insufficient level of amounts included in the draft budget for 2026, which does not reflect the real payment needs related to settlement requests already submitted and under evaluation.

“In practice, suppliers were forced to pre-finance the price differences generated by the capping scheme for very long periods of time, which generates significant financial costs and pressures on the liquidity of companies”, emphasizes Dana Daraban.

The major and systematic delays in paying the amounts owed to suppliers raise serious questions about the way in which the state respects its own commitments towards economic operators that it has obliged, by law, to apply a public policy.

Transferring the costs of a public policy onto economic operators, without effective and timely compensation, generates additional bank costs, liquidity bottlenecks and risks to the normal functioning of the market. In addition, this situation affects the competitive balance, as suppliers exposed in the long term to the capping scheme have suffered considerable financial and operational constraints to comply with the law and to ensure the continuity of energy supply.

For the proper functioning of the market and to maintain confidence in the economic and institutional framework, it is essential that the state ensures a rapid, transparent and predictable compensation mechanism for the costs generated by its own public policy decisions.